Kaori Nishidake's Trips in Her Tricks
by UhOhxitsKaori
Summary: Kaori's secret that develops throughout the story. Nobody in SSX would've guessed, and no one in her family would ever expect it. Does she take the plunge? PG for now, but rating will go up soon.
1. Chapter 1: Garibaldi

**PLEASE READ!PLEASE READ!PLEASE READ!**

Hey guys! So this is my first fanfiction I've actually been meaning to do for a couple years now! I finally got around to making my own account on here, and actually putting the ideas in my head on paper. Er, type. Anyway, I don't own SSX Tricky or have anything to do with any of the characters, I just like to play with them. [: I am not giving the chance to give away what I plan to happen in it, it might be a huge surprise, or you might see it coming. Just give it a go, and see how you like it! I've never done this before!

**Chapter 1: Garibaldi**

Kaori pulled her jacket tightly to her chest, her teeth chattering as she glanced around, the wind gaining so much strength, it yanked a constant stream of tears from her eyes. Being a staggering five-foot-nothing with a body fat of nearly zilch, she envied the other female competitors, admiring their toned muscles and their more womanly features. She felt so tiny and sometimes intimidated by them, just because they towered over her. Even when Kaori talked to them, even when they weren't trying to scare her, she felt like they were showing her up. Kaori just sighed, pulling her eyes away from them.

"Nishidake!" Brodi suddenly called out, making her heart do a flop down into her throat. Oh, Brodi… He didn't seem to be the one for Kaori, to put it blatantly, but he was just so handsome, so suave, so tall and tan… She imagined any other girls' heart did the exact same thing, no matter who they were. She looked up, waved in acknowledgment and smiled, then grabbed her back pack of a teddy bear and literally hopped and snowboarded over to the start line, placing a space between Brodi and Psymon. Psymon was the biggest annoyance to her, not only out of all the riders, but in the whole world, even universe, as well. He always picked on her, pushed her down and mocked her, speaking gibberish when she couldn't find the right English words to try to talk back to him, always making her-

"OOGA-BOOGA-BOOGA!" Psymon shoved his head into where her starting position bubble was, taking her a little by shock as she used one of Brodi's arms to grab onto for balance, Brodi seemingly unfazed by this as he was used to Psymon and Kaori picking onto eachother when they were next to each one another in the lineup.

"Psymon!" Kaori sniffed, not out of hurt, but because the cold air was making her nose run, the tears still pushing their way down her cheeks, feeling like they were being froze to her face. "You needs a bath!" Kaori retorted, regaining her balance as Psymon threw his head back from laughing while Kaori motioned a waving hand over her nose that he smelled.

"You think I needs a bath, Kaori!" Psymon held his stomach and laughed, pointing at himself while Kaori just stuck her head up, indicating she meant business which only made Psymon laugh more. "Kaori, God, you're such a loser!" Psymon calmed himself and then surveyed Kaori's face, abruptly stopping himself as he saw the tears on her face. He groaned a quiet sigh. He had never made her cry before (actually, there was this one time…), and maybe he picked the wrong time to pick on her. After all, he thought, she could be one of those Japanese girls that go hulk out of pure anger at you, and she could be a huge nuisance on the slopes if he made her pissed.

"Psymon, Kami! Urusai!" Kaori punched him, hard, on his left arm as he completely regretted backing off from making fun of her, grunting as he turned his focus to what he saw ahead. Fans and snow.

Out of the typical group, Eddie, Elise, Marisol, Seeiah, Luther, JP, Zoe, Moby, Mac, Kaori, Brodi, and himself, SSX recently launched a King and Queen of All World tournament. All the riders raced on their typical courses they were all familiar with by now, and each last place snowboarder was docked off of the team by the end of each separate course, leaving the players shorter and shorter in stock as the tournament progressed and kept snowboarding on the tracks. At Garibaldi, a female would be deducted, and at Snow Dream, a male would be deducted. It switched back and forth for each course, and so on. But the last female player that was still boarding was dubbed the Queen, and the male, King.

"3..." Rahzel Brown started counting down, Psymon regaining his focus again this time and grabbed onto the bars beside him, ready to enter the course.

"2..." Kaori glared at Psymon, then quickly back over to Brodi, smiling to him and herself as she nodded, her face speaking for itself as if to say 'ganbatte.'

"1...!" Brodi looked up and smiled, his expression giving Kaori a rush.

"GO!" Rahzel Brown emphasized, Kaori and all of the others pulling themselves out of the locks, racing down Garibaldi, some of the players pulling up the rear, and others gaining speed up front. Kaori had recently cut out most of her social life besides her family, practicing at least an hour everyday, mostly extended to five or six though, for the past three weeks. Judging by Kaori's growing, large gap from the group behind her, Kaori grinned as she knew it finally paid off. She closed her eyes, only for a moment, and readied herself for the big jump up ahead. She took in a deep breath, adrenaline racing through all of her body and the earlier chills she had embraced were now gone, shouting as she flew into the air.

"Hai, hai, HAI!" Kaori shouted and laughed, flipping, turning, and grabbing at her board and pulling off each individual trick smoothly, until she had grabbed one of the straps on her board. The click she heard next made her known that she undid it, by accident. She looked down and gasped, her leg awkwardly flying out of her range, uncontrollably not succumbing to her will to bring it back from the force of air rising in all directions against her.

"'Tasukete kudasai!" Kaori busted out, attempting to swing her leg in before she shut her eyes, trying to prepare herself for the impact against the cold, hard snow. The last few seconds of free falling came to a shocking stop were felt all throughout her body, pain shooting up into her left ankle.

"AHHHhhh…!" Kaori started out with another shout which left her with a quiet whimper, quickly looking at her tossed out leg and her board still attached to her other one. She looked up, hoping to see the other upcoming players see that she was injured. In any other race, she would have given the notion that she wanted off the course immediately, but being in this tournament, Kaori hid from the fans, cameras, and any of the crew that might be lurking along the track. She wanted this. She wanted this, bad enough to want to snowboard with a sprained or broken ankle.

"Kaori! Are you alright!" She heard her friend Mac shout, but not stop, as she saw his head thrown back, giving a questioning thumbs up in her direction. She waved him off and falsely smiled, grimacing in pain as soon as he nodded and turned his head into forward direction.

"Whoo, Kaori, you took a bit of a tumble! Day-jai-bou?" Eddie called back, doing the same thing Mac had done with the thumbs up, giving an honest laugh at Eddie's newly, but poorly, learned Japanese from her. She gave a thumbs up, pulling her own leg back to her board and securing it, biting her lip. She was pretty sure it already began to swollen.

"Kaori!" Brodi landed about five feet away from her spot, hobbling and then snowboarding a bit in her direction, cocking his head to the side. "You okay, little one?" Brodi sweetly smiled as he offered her a hand, Kaori sadly smiling as she nodded, regaining her posture. "Hai…" Kaori nodded, giving the signal Brodi that he could go on. Brodi took advantage, pat her back lightly, and raced behind almost everyone else, swiftly gaining on their tail.

"Yo, Kaori! Hurt yourself _again_!" Psymon landed in last place, besides her at least, looking down. Their height difference was almost a foot.

"Shove off-u, Psymohn!" Kaori's Japanese accent thickly showed, too focused on her pain and anger to show Psymon she spoke fine English. She turned her board to her side, giving herself half a hop before stretching her arms outward, catch herself and landing into a strange push-up formation on the snow, her eyes clasped shut. "Shimatta!" She squeakily cursed, thankful her face still didn't fall into the snow. She lay there for a second before waiting for Psymon to leave, using her arms to shove herself off of the ground. She gasped as the strength in her arms had failed her, lunging her back down onto the snow. She placed her arms in front of her, ready to catch her body again, but strong arms grabbed at the back of each side of her jacket, yanking her back upright onto her snowboard.

"… Psymohn!" Kaori looked up, seeing Psymon's displeased look. He rolled his eyes and roughly pushed her closer to the next, small jump, Kaori gritting her teeth to keep her from yelling again in pain from her ankle. Kaori barely made it passed the extremely low jump as Psymon leaped into the air, doing an impossibly long trick, but still landed on his board. Unbalanced, but successfully.

"Aguuh…" Kaori groaned, trying to speed herself to the pack, keeping her body low to the ground and pushing the growing pain in her ankle growing up to her knee out of her mind, gliding around the upcoming corners. Psymon was only a few feet in front of her, and she could see the rest up at front, surprisingly not far ahead. Trying to keep over half of her balance on her back, right foot, slowed Kaori down immensely; every painful, long, and poor jump and trick showed her that right in front of her face. The players were still in site, but by each turn, some had disappeared, and some had turned into specks. Psymon, Luther, and JP lurked in the area between her and the other boarders, goofing off for now. They always did this. They would always do their own stupid guy group thing, trying over and over again to grind on every rail they saw (except for Luther), and knock over trash cans, poles, anything else in site and causing as much destruction and chaos for themselves and everyone else as well. But in the end, one of them seemed to always come up in mostly the top four, even the top three.

Kaori ducked her head, gritting her teeth again as she squinted. She couldn't do tricks, and with her ankle, they only slowed her down. Over all of the jumps, rails, everything in her path, she merely flew low to the ground over, making her catch her own speed again every time she hit the snow. She dipped in and out of Psymon's little 'group' and the gap up ahead. She would catch up with the other players only if they wiped out somewhere, giving her a chance to get back into the top. For now, all she had to do was not be the last female player in this race. Seeiah and Marisol rode next to eachother, talking more than boarding, and Kaori took one of them as her target. All she had to do was beat one of them, they were the last females in the race so far. If she had to push one at the end of the race, so be it. Kaori could push. She could push hard.

"French toast and SYRUP!" Psymon shouted behind Kaori as he did another annoying trick. Kaori knew the tricks weren't annoying themselves, but his actions and words that went with them were. French toast and syrup? That makes no sense.

"MOVE it, yellah belly!" Luther shouted, waving his arms at Kaori as to shove her, but her adrenaline boosted yet again, ducking under his arms and racing the track. Kaori was getting mad, but she was glad she was mad. It made her forget about her ankle, and the fact that she could still lose the race. She heard another board come up close behind her, and Kaori turned around, pushed against the disgusting body, and secretly smiled as she heard an enraged "Oomph!" ram into the snow. Back off, Luther. She heard another body come close behind hers, and Kaori pushed again, but yelped when her wrist was twisted, but both of the bodies still kept boarding.

"Yeah… Pretty good." Psymon laughed at Kaori's push at Luther, the Japanese girl picking up curses and shouting far behind her. She wasn't mean to Psymon this time, or try to shove him, and she took her wrist with the rest of her arm back. He did give her, though not a very concerned, push at the beginning of the race, and even if it wasn't friendly, he did give his time to get her back on track. It was just another time to pick on her, but either way, time is time on a track, and shouldn't be wasted. So, she was grateful, even if he didn't know it.

"Better catch up, Orange Explosion Fun Girl!" Psymon slowed down and went behind Kaori's body, pushing hard again on her as she flew up into the air.

"Wah! PsyMOHN!" Kaori said, but still kept herself together, earning a perfect land that helped her gain a few more miles of added speed, practically ending up right along side of Seeiah and Marisol.

"Yo, Marisol!" Seeiah called out and pointed at Kaori. "Careful she don pull a fass one!" Seeiah cupped her hands over her mouth as if to keep Kaori from hearing, but Kaori rolled her eyes. She clearly shouted, so Kaori clearly heard. Seeiah, Marisol, and Kaori got along, but it seemed to be a different story when they were against eachother in a race. But she didn't hold it against them. Especially not now. Because Seeiah was right, she probably was going to pull a "fass one" on one of them, whichever she could grab or push.

As the group clustered closer and closer together, the track was nearing to an end, a final row of three large jumps and red arrows were in a row, and Kaori had actually saved her energy up far enough to do an uber trick. She unclasped her good foot from the board as she rode into the air, swinging the board to her side and cheering herself on. "Kaaakoiii!" She forced herself to keep her eyes open as she impacted on the snow again, both feet still attached to the board. She was still behind, and the last jump was now in site, and so were Seeiah and Marisol. Luther, JP, and Psymon were behind her, but it was of no importance, because she was the last female. Kaori bent down again, gained enormous speed, and came along to Seeiah's side. She was the one who might take it the most lightly, also considering her and Marisol obviously did not put their heart and soul to this track, much less, the tournament itself. She hated that if one of them lost, they wouldn't be racing together for awhile because one would be eliminated. But then she thought that perhaps it was a good thing; whichever one was not eliminated, could focus more on the tournament instead.

Two or three boarders had already crossed the finish line, Elise was one, but Kaori couldn't make out the rest. She reached out to Seeiah, the tips of her fingers passing by the lining of white fur on her coat, but was pulled away from her. She looked down as she saw arms wrap around her waist. Strong, tattooed arms, picked her up into the air and hurled her literally into the finish line. Kaori screamed as she covered her face, trying not to land into the rest of the crew that already crossed, yelling at them in her native language to move out of the way.

"Whoa!"

"Ohhh, shiiit!"

"Watch out!"

Kaori landed on a mix of Elise and Brodi, hitting her head painfully off of Brodi's shoulder. She could hear the crowd cheering, gasping, and applauding all at the same time. Her head felt dizzy and heavy, but she forced herself to pull it up. By the way things look, she had actually crossed the line before Marisol, who was cursing at Psymon and waving her arms in a diva-ish way in the air.

"What the hell, dude! Like, wha da hell was that!" Marisol shouted, shoving Psymon back with her hands on his chest, angrily pushing him.

"Back in the zone, _snow cone!_" Psymon laughed, saying something he said whenever he wiped out on the tracks, and regained his posture, unclipping the board from his feet as he walked away from her and into his group of stupid guy buddies. JP had obviously lost, and was shouting and hitting Luther. Psymon seemingly broke it up for the time being, and Kaori stared at him. He didn't even look near her direction, not even in the vicinity of it, not once. She was confused, and her head and ankle hurt pretty bad, but then confusion turned into quick anger. Was making her win the race just another practical excuse for Psymon to bully her around, and throw her across the finish line like that? Cold began to interfere with Kaori's growing, angry heat inside her body, until Brodi held the palm of his hand under Kaori's head, supporting it as Kaori still lay down.

"I knew you'd make it. Not the best arrival, but…" Brodi shrugged, laughing a bit as he placed Kaori's head in his lap, making Kaori's stomach grow into a batch of butterflies while he undid Kaori's board for her. He took it in his hand, placing it with his own, and then slid an arm under her waist, helping her back up.

"A-ah…" Kaori mumbled, her ankle almost giving way underneath her until Brodi looped one of her arms over his shoulders, his arm still around her waist and his other dragging their boards onto the stage. "My.. ankle hurts…" Kaori said through tightly clasped lips, using her hand to grab onto Brodi's shoulder, making him slightly wince.

"Ah, and so does my shoulder…" Brodi laughed again, making Kaori realized she damaged it a bit when he broke her fall, letting her grip loosen from his shoulder.

"Gomenasaaaai, Brodi-kun…" Kaori whined, climbing the stairs up onto the stage as the crowd roared, Elise and Moby going to center stage, cheering on the crowd. They were the temporary King and Queen. Kaori looked up at the growing crowd, waving their arms into the air and shouting Elise's and Moby's name, throwing things like flowers or gifts in their general direction.

"Kaori?" Brodi nudged her, sending Kaori's heart beating fast again.

"Ah, uh, hai, Brodi-kun?" Kaori looked up, smiling.

"You should see a doctor… The way your ankle is bent, there's a good chance it's broken." Brodi gestured to her ankle, looking back up at her again. "Does it still hurt?"

Kaori looked down at her ankle, tried to move it around before sighing, nodding at him. "Hai… It feels really hurt when I move it." Kaori whined. "Could you help take me to zha first-aid off side?" she asked, looking up again.

"Yes. Of course, Kaori." Brodi got a grip onto Kaori again, making the motion to step off to the side before being interrupted by Rahzel.

"And in second place, female rider, Zoe "Royale" Payne! Male rider, Broderick "Brodi" Ford!" Rahzel boomed, the crowd getting started up again. Brodi apologetically looked at Kaori before leaning her against a metal bar, going off into center stage with Zoe and waving to the crowd, bowing his head slightly at times and treating the flowers that his fangirls threw to him with care, keeping a hold of each one that was tossed directly at him.

Kaori laughed slightly at the site, the fangirls cooing and awing when he caught their flowers, screaming more and more with enthusiasm each time. She averted her eyes and looked at the other players getting off stage besides Mac and Seeiah, who came in third place and were waiting for their stage time as soon as Brodi and Zoe were announced off.

"Hey, Kaori." Kaori heard, turning only her head, keeping the rest of her body in place. "That was kind of sick, huh? I threw you pretty damn hard." Psymon said, crossing his arms and grinning at her.

"Psymohn…" Kaori glared, crossing her arms as well, hoping for Brodi to soon return so she wouldn't have to awkwardly make her way back to the first-aid on the side. "Childeesh." Kaori only said, exaggerating the wrong syllables in the words, due to her accent again. "Hmph." Kaori looked away, ignoring Psymon.

"Why are you just standing here?" Psymon asked, obviously not fazed by the fact Kaori was trying to ignore him. Kaori just took in a deep breath, weighing her options whether ignoring him would just make him cause more of an annoyance, or if paying attention to him would.

"I am waiting for Brodi," Kaori quietly said to him, making Psymon creep closer to her like she was telling him something really important.

"Brodi? You mean, like, mister tall, dark, and handsome? Your boyfriend?" Psymon folded both of his hands and placed them under one of his cheeks, tilting his head and dreamily sighing as he batted his eyes sarcastically.

"Psymohn! He not my boyfriend! He my friend!" Kaori tossed her arms in the air, watching Brodi come walking back to her with a quizzical look on his face.

"Kaori… My fans would like me to sign a few things… Could you hold on for a second?"


	2. Chapter 2: Garibaldi part II

So, is a little hard to work with… It's safe to say it's a huge pain in my butt, but oh well. I'm trying to add a chapter two, with little knowledge of and 0 reviews (see: 0 inspiration), but we'll see how that goes. I'm not dumb, I swear. It's just… is smarter than me, that's all.

Edit! Thanks for **kireichocho **for my first review! You made me so happy! You too, **SSXfansince2000!**

**Chapter 2: Garibaldi (part II)**

Oh, so he was going to make her wait. Well, that would be alright, but Psymon was probably going to continue bugging her until either he came back, or until she told him to screw off with some colorful language (probably in her own). Or maybe that would just fuel him more. Kaori sighed, she never knew what would set Psymon off, or what would just make him keep going. But Kaori just smiled at Brodi and nodded, giving him the queue that she would wait while he signed, hopefully, just a few things.

"Don't worry Kaori, I'm sure pretty boy will be back to sweep you off your feet too. He can't devote all of his time to the other girls that are swooning over him," Psymon looked away from Kaori and grinned, sticking his tongue out to nobody but himself, and waited for Kaori to snap back at him. But after waiting a few moments of just silence, Psymon finally turned around and looked at Kaori examining her ankle and ignoring him. He glanced down at it and assumed it was probably injured, remembering the fall she had taken earlier at the beginning of Garibaldi.

"So what's up with your ankle?" Psymon asked

Kaori looked up, surprised for a second he seemed to care, but just shrugged and answered, "well, on that jump on Garibaldi, when you-"

"Did Godzilla step on it or something?" Psymon laughed, putting his hands to his face and pretending to be frightened. "GODZIRRA, GODZIRRA! RUN!" Psymon ran in place, pretending to run from an invisible Godzilla that he made seem was mere feet away from Kaori.

After Psymon's little show, Kaori just gave him a blank stare, half of it with anger, and half with just not caring. She kept her eyes locked upon him, glaring as she sighed, resuming to trying to move her ankle and see if it was really broken. Psymon rolled his eyes at Kaori at her not going along with his game, stepping off to the side of the stage and going down the stairs, shouting obscene and random things at the crowd.

"Baka…" Kaori murmured to herself. She really wasn't checking out her ankle, she already knew it most likely wasn't broken since she could move it a bit. But she had pretended to look at it as to show Psymon that he wasn't bothering her. Groaning to herself and looking around for Brodi, she realized he was pretty far down to the crowd of people, mostly girls, signing things and laughing. Kaori realized she was the only one left on the stage and she tried to shrink herself away. She probably looked stupid, just sitting there, all by herself.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable squirming, she picked up her board and hauled herself up with it, walking over to the railing of the stairs. She used her snowboard as an awkward walking stick, placing her hand on the railing and stepping down on the first stair, wincing as she placed pressure on her foot with the damaged ankle down. Moving her hand farther down the railing, she lifted her foot again, the bottom of her shoe only grazing the stair before she saw Psymon coming up the stairs. Kaori's eyes widened, beginning to scramble a bit on the stairs as she tried to hurry down them, clumsily groping anywhere she could grab onto the railing. Psymon had that Psymon look on his face, Kaori didn't know if he was going to kick her down the stairs, or shove her. But Psymon then placed his arms on both sides of her waist, throwing Kaori's body over one of his shoulders and letting her legs hand over his front, while her head was left for limp over his back. It was better than being shoved or kick, but Kaori didn't know by how much.

"Psymohn! Psymohn! Psymohn!" Kaori kicked her good leg, trying to hit Psymon's chest. Psymon sighed and smacked her calf with his hand, making Kaori whine more. "Put me down, Psyyyymohn!" Kaori tossed her head up, seeing Brodi arriving back onto the other end of the stage.

'Oh, now he comes. Just when I left.' Kaori just let her head lay limp again, her chin resting on Psymon's back and watching the snow the ankles of his feet left tracks on, trying not to let her board keep hitting his side. She would have hit and tried to kick Psymon more, but the fact she had just missed Brodi put her in a sour mood.

Only after a minute or so of walking, Kaori could see Psymon was taking her to the First-Aid off to the side, the man who ran the First-Aid at Garibaldi all off SSX was all too familiar with. He was a tall, but a little chubby. Clean shaven, brown hair, with brown eyes and a caring smile. None of SSX knew his name, but he was always polite and gave them each his full attention whenever one of them was injured. Kaori had needed fixed up by him twice, once when she slammed her wrist on a rail, and once when she had fainted a few months ago when she snowboarded with the flu. Psymon walked in with Kaori, giving the First-Aid man a wave Kaori guessed, with the way his arm had moved.

"Midget wiped out on the first jump," Psymon jiggled Kaori on his shoulder around a little like a rag doll, making Kaori mad.

"Psymohn!" Kaori smacked Psymon's back, pouting at him, even though he couldn't see.

"Is this the thanks I get for bringing you to Mr. M?" Psymon punched Kaori, but not hard, on the hip. "The stupid girl probably broke her ankle doing a stupid trick-"

"PSYMOHN!"

"Can you fix her up? Her knight in shining armor should be in any minute," Psymon didn't wait for a response since Mr. M would of course say yes, and he walked into a white room with uneasy white lighting, easily lifting Kaori off his shoulder. He flopped her onto a cold metal chair, earning an 'ouch!' from Kaori. "Sorry," Psymon grumbled and obviously did not mean, walking away from her and the upcoming Mr. M into the white room, giving him a wave as he head out the door. Mr. M smiled and turned to Kaori, both sighing at Psymon's… Action. Presence. Everything.

"So, Kaori," Mr. M started off, taking a seat down in a metal chair across from her. "What have we done to ourselves today?" Mr. M smiled again, waiting for Kaori's response. Kaori was still taking in the fact she was sitting now, and that the doctor that had been assisting everyone's broken falls and failed tricks had a last name that started with 'M.'

"I… Was jumping off of Garibaldi's big jump at the start…" Kaori gestured to her foot, pointing at it. "I landed wrong, and hurt my foot, I think…" Kaori said, carefully piecing her English together to make it sound right. Most of the SSX crew could gather what Kaori said when she spoke English, even if it took her a couple tries, but Kaori remembered when she had first came to see Mr. M a long time ago with her damaged wrist. He could barely understand her, and Eddie and Mac had to help her out with speaking and Mr. M understanding.

"Let's see," Mr. M got off of his chair, kneeling onto the white tile floor and untying one of her shoes, loosening up the laces and gently taking it off her foot, Kaori biting her lip. It hurt, but not much. "You okay?" Mr. M asked, looking up at Kaori as she confidently nodded. Mr. M then slid her pink sock off her foot, examining her foot and ankle.

"Looks sprained…" Mr. M said, gently tilting it from side to side, making Kaori groan. "But not broken, you should be able to race at Snowdream next week," Mr. M said, getting up and grabbing some binding from a drawer, shutting it as he bent down again and started wrapping Kaori's ankle. He rolled the bottom of her pants up a couple inches, starting a little above her ankle and then circling his way down, Kaori uncomfortably shifting in her chair. She had never been in Mr. M's office, and the silence irritated her. The first time, Eddie and Mac had come with her, and the last time when she was sick, Elise and Brodi were there. This time Psymon came, but he didn't stay with her.

"DUDE, SHE IS NOT MY PROBLEM!"

Kaori and Mr. M both looked and each other, then out to the left at the window, watching Psymon and Brodi argue.

"I know, Psymon, I know. But could you just take her back to the hotel? I would, but I have an interview at five, and-"

"Ugh, just whatever, dude. I'm tripping you in Snowdream for this."

Kaori could see Brodi sheepishly laughing, shrugging as if this was alright to him. And maybe it was.

"Thanks. I owe you-"

"Yeah. Yeah, I know you do."

Brodi laughed and looked through the window, peering through at Kaori through the next two rooms, and waved at her. Kaori widely smiled and waved back, holding her hand to her chest as it beat increasingly fast. Behind Brodi though, Psymon was there, mimicking Brodi's waving and smile and making it look goofy. Kaori stopped waving and squinted at Psymon, sticking her tongue out at him. Brodi looked confused and stopped waving as well, tilting his head to the side before Kaori shook her hand and her hands, pointing at behind Brodi. Brodi looked at her for a bit before getting what Kaori was pointing at, looking at Psymon who was still waving like an idiot. Brodi gave a hearty laugh, placing a guy-shoulder-punch-thing on Psymon's shoulder before walking away, giving one last wave to Kaori who smiled again.

"Psymon's such a goof, eh?" Mr. M smiled, patching up Kaori's ankle and securing the binding, looking up at her. Kaori rolled her eyes.

"One name for him," Kaori crossed her arms, watching Psymon come through the door and across the main room, entering the white room. Psymon turned around and watched Brodi walk away through the big glass window that made up the wall between the white room and the main room. The main room's outer wall was also glass, allowing anyone in the white room to see what was going on.

"You done yet?" Psymon asked, crossing his arms as well and tapping his foot impatiently as Mr. M politely nodded, Kaori looking up at Mr. M as he extended an arm out with his hand. Kaori grabbed it and used it to help her steady herself as she stood up, looking at Psymon.

"Why are you still here, Psymohn?" Kaori asked, placing one of her hands on her hips.

"You think you can walk back to your hotel room like that? Fine," Psymon uncrossed and sprayed out his arms, "you be my guest."

Kaori furrowed her brows at this, taking a step on the tile floor and shut her eyes. She could walk well for someone with a sprained ankle, but it would take her three times as long to get back to the hotel room by herself. "I…" Kaori started, unsure of what to say. Psymon waltzed up to her and looped an arm around the bottom of her waist, bending his knees and hauling Kaori over his shoulder just as he had when he first brought her in.

"Thanks, dude," Psymon said and nodded at Mr. M, making his way out the door with a pouting Kaori. Her chin was resting on Psymon's back and her legs were limp, her arms oddly crossed even though her top half was being held upside-down.

"Ah, arigato gozaimasu!" Kaori called out to Mr. M who waved, seeming to be laughing a little under his breath at Kaori and Psymon. She gave an unsure smile then placed her chin against Psymon's back again, both her arms and legs now hanging limp.

"Psymon! What are you doing to poor Kaori!" Elise called out, a concerned expression on her face.

"Taking the midget to her hotel room, what's it look like!" Psymon aggravatingly called back, Kaori pitifully looking up and waving a little at Else as she unsurely waved back.

"… She doesn't look comfortable!" Elise said, trying to hint to Psymon to put her down without getting his temper going.

"Oh, she's FINE!" Psymon started walking away, Kaori now facing Elise as she helplessly shrugged and Kaori placed her head back down, but giving a thumbs up at Elise. Kaori understood with how it was with reasoning with Psymon, and besides, her ankle was more uncomfortable than the position Psymon put her in was, so either way, she was going to be uncomfortable. It wasn't a huge deal, and she was getting from point A to point B.

After a few uncomfortable shifting around and Psymon's accidental (maybe) bumps of Kaori's into corners of walls and rails and buildings and much whining and protesting, Psymon basically tossed Kaori into the back of a taxi cab, sliding up in the front. Kaori heard Psymon tell the taxi driver to take them to their hotel, the Sea to Sky Hotel they always stayed at when they were in Canada for snowboarding on Mount Garibaldi. Psymon hadn't very gently assisted Kaori get comfortable, so she was squirming slightly in the backseat. The hotel was only about a fifteen minute ride by vehicle, and afte situating herself, Kaori pulled out her pink cellphone. It had Charmy Kitty, Tare Panda, and Chibimaru cellphone stickers decorating it, and it had gems blanketing the full top front of it with a white cursive 'K' for 'Kaori' right in the middle. She flipped it open and pulled up Brodi's name to text message his phone.

To: Brodi

From: Kaori

Good-luck with the interview, Brodi-kun! ^^v 3

Kaori pressed 'Send' and folded her phone neatly into her panda bear backpack, zipping it in its pouch and staring out of the window. Her breaths fogged up the window, using her gloved finger to write in Japanese kanji over the perspiration her breath made on the window. She wrote stuff like "happy" and "Garibaldi" in Japanese kanji, and she drew little bears and hearts with snow to create a sort of sickly cute picture. She pulled out her phone again, setting it to picture mode, and snapped a picture of her creation, saving it to her phone. She looked down and went to set it as her background before she saw she had a new text from Brodi, her heart doing the same old rapid beat whenever she saw his name.

To: Kaori

From: Brodi

Thanks Kaori. My interview is almost over, I'll come over and see you when I'm done. J

Kaori smiled and shimmied in her seat, excited. Brodi was coming to see her! Everything felt so great, even with her sprained ankle, she felt like she could snowboard up into heaven if someone gave her even the tiniest slope. This day couldn't be going better. Kaori was so distracted by Brodi's text that she didn't hear the first few taps against her window that turned into slams of the fist. She looked up at Psymon outside.

"EARTH TO MIDGET KAORI, ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?"


	3. Chapter 3: Sea to Sky

You guys! _ It's been horrible! The power in my house has been off for, like.. almost a week! A WEEK! I've been living at my friend Anna's house to update and write, but I'm back home now. It's kind of nice, because I can play SSX Tricky (And Urbz. :D) on Gamecube without anyone being upset, because the power's back, but the cable isn't. So no one really cares if I play videogames, because we can't watch TV! :D Anyway, no reviews still? Please keep reviewing guys! It really helps, you have no idea! I STRIVE TO MAKE YOU HAPPY.

Edit: I LOVE YOU, **Akaichou95**! :D Thank-you so much!

Also, want to see the Sea to Sky hotel, the one SSX is staying at in Garibaldi? It's real, you know! It's about 15-30 minutes away, and there's a YouTube advertisement for it too! Just Youtube "Sky to Sky Hotel - (604)898-4874

ALSO, there are photos from the Sea to Sky official website of the suites in the hotel. It should give you an accurate idea of what the members are in for when they stay at Garibaldi in my story. Check it out, it'll really make a difference with how you view the story, I think! Just go to their site and click 'rooms,' and there are the pictures!

It might take away from the imagination department, but I love making a story seem as close to being real as possible, and I believe that this is a way to do it! (:

**Chapter 3: Sea to Sky**

Kaori's eyes widened and she held her phone to her chest, gasping. She shook her head, making her come back to reality. Kaori put her phone in her Panda's pouch for good and clasped her hand over the car door handle, pushing it open slightly. She hung a leg out the door, but as she was about to let go though, Psymon had grabbed the outside car door of the taxi cab, swinging it all the way open with brute force. Kaori tried to scramble to reach for the door for support, but only led to her falling out of the taxi cab, her gloved hands catching her on the pavement of the road leading to the Sea to Sky hotel. She was facedown to the road now, with her hands and knees on the ground, and her feet still caught on the side of the bottom of the taxi. Her panda bear had fallen off her lap and onto the ice near the road, some of her contents spilling out. She looked up at Psymon, who was trying to pretend to be an innocent bystander.

"PSYMOHN STAHKU!" Kaori shouted, getting herself to her feet and fetching her belongings that fell and slipped away from her, lugging her panda over her shoulder. She heard the taxi driver drive away with unsureness by the sound of the motor, perhaps waiting for Psymon or Kaori to say thank-you or wave him off. Kaori looked up at Psymon and placed her hands on her hips, opening her mouth to say something before quickly shutting it, waving her hand. It wasn't worth dealing with Psymon right now, Kaori wanted to go to her hotel room and nap before Brodi came. Or maybe primp herself up more and change out of her snowboarding clothes. But either way, Kaori was the only one who needed to know that. Either way, she just wanted to go to her room.

"What's the matter, Kaoriii?" Psymon laughed, following after her to the hotel.

"Leave me alone, Psymohn," Kaori said, hobbling her way to the entrance. One of the bellhops opened the door for Kaori, holding it for both her and Psymon. Kaori briskly walked up to the front desk and smiled at the lady behind it.

"Is dere a rezhavashun for Kaori Nishidake?" Kaori asked, struggling a little with the hard words.

"Hold on," the lady politely smiled, clicking and typing a few things on the computer. She nodded slightly, reaching out for a hotel key and handing it to Kaori. Kaori smiled and bowed her head slightly, sticking the key in one of her pants pockets. "Room 517, fifth floor. It'll be to your right when you get off the elevator, Miss…" The lady trailed off, either forgetting Kaori's name or unsure how to pronounce it. "Nishidake," Kaori finished, bowing her head slightly again. The lady smiled back, resuming to clacking and typing a few things on her computer.

Kaori turned around and made an effort not to make eye contact with Psymon, heading straight to the elevator. She observed her surroundings, making her way over to push the button that would send her to her room up on the fifth floor. She glanced back at Psymon, trying not to let him see in case he took advantage and shouted something rude or made a dumb face at her. Kaori didn't mind, well… She's gotten used to Psymon being a bully or a clown around her, but she hated when he did it in public, in front of strangers. But to Kaori's surprise, Psymon was talking to the same lady at the desk too, and she could see her handing him his hotel key. Kaori sighed, digging for her phone in Panda-chan. She heard the elevator bing! to signal her that the doors had opened. Kaori looked up and saw that no one was in the elevators, automatically stepped in, and pressed the button with the '5' next to it. She resumed rummaging out her cell phone, flipping it open. She pouted to herself at no new messages.

"Oh, KAORIII!" Kaori heard Psymon psychotically laugh, running to where she was in the elevators.

"Ah! Achi kaere!" Kaori reached for the button on the elevator that closed the doors, pushing it over and over and trying to make them close before Psymon got to the elevator. Her thick gloves kept making her press the open and close buttons at the same time, making the doors do a sort of spastic dance that attracted attention from the hotel. Kaori finally just held the one 'close' button with the tip of her gloved finger, shutting her eyes for Psymon's impact either against the door or against her.

A few delayed seconds later, Kaori looked up to see Psymon at the opening of the two doors, grinning purposefully extra frightening for Kaori. Kaori looked up and stared at Psymon who towered over her, just standing there, as the two doors shut. The last Kaori saw was Psymon's crazy face, giving her bad chills up her spine from the creepyness of Psymon.

"Kami-sama!" Kaori took her gloves off, holding them with one hand. She placed her other, now bare, hand on the top of her forehead, calming herself as the elevator rose higher and higher and higher. She wiped the little sweat that had gathered on her brows and then looked up just in time to see the elevator switch from the fourth floor to the fifth. It stopped, smoothly, and Kaori got off on her floor, making a right, heading from her room.

As Kaori walked down the hallway, she glanced at herself in the passing mirrors. The hallway had a mirror every other section between the hotel room doors, lining the entire section. She had noticed in her reflection that her low pigtails were still even, but her cheeks were pretty red from the cold and from Psymon making her frazzled in the elevator. She touched her warm cheek lightly with her fingers before looking at the hotel key in her hand. Room 517 was now a few steps away. She looked up, held out her key, and slipped it into the door that read the code. With the flashing of a green light signaling Kaori could open the door, she pushed it open, walking in. Observing more of her surroundings and judging by the hotel paintings that hung up on various sides of the wall, Kaori knew she had stayed in this very room before when snowboarding at Garibaldi. The lighting was warm and slightly dim, the covers were a bit gaudy, the flat screen TV that hung up on the wall in front of her bed, the colorful flowers… Everything was as it always was when she stayed at Sea to Sky. Kaori walked over to her bed and set her panda bear backpack down, seeing that her luggage was already brought up and set neatly in a corner, waiting just for her. After one last look at her phone, Kaori decided to sit down on her bed and text Brodi.

To: Brodi

From: Kaori

_Brodi! I'm in my room! It's 517! :3_

Kaori pressed 'Send,' set her phone on the nightstand next to her bed, and then took out both of her neatly tied pigtails. Slipping the hair ties both on one of her wrist, she gingerly shook her head and let her hair loosen up and fall down. Everybody said that Kaori looked so different with her hair let down, that she looked older, but more shy. Her pigtails gave her already sort of cute and bubbly image a boost, but without them, Kaori's round face and all around innocent features seem to show through. Older, and not necessarily more innocent looking, but just more… Shy.

As Kaori glanced at her watch which read that it was almost six, she hauled herself off of the bed and bent down to her pink suitcase, covered in panda key chains and cartoon characters. She unzipped it and pulled out her pajamas, which consisted of white cotton shorts with cake on them, and a matching, loose-fitting tank top. She laid and folded them neatly at the head of her bed. Kaori went back over to her suitcase and took out a pair of cream colored legwarmers, a pair of stressed and faded denim shorts, and a cream colored bubbly and flowy shirt with pale pink cherry blossoms covering a corner of it. She began to undress herself, taking all of her snowboarding clothes and setting them at the foot of the bed. Picking up the shirt, she began to slip it on when her phone buzzed on the nightstand. Kaori finished putting her shirt on before walking over to her phone and picking it up, reading her new text message.

To: Kaori

From: Brodi

_I'll be there soon!_

Kaori squealed quietly in delight, hurriedly texting back.

To: Brodi

From: Kaori

_Okay! ^_^_

Kaori was going to wait a few minutes as to not seem like she was waiting for Brodi to text her, and after staring at her phone for a few seconds, Kaori shrugged and hit 'Send' anyway. The faster she sent that replied text message, the faster she could get ready. Kaori went back to where her suitcase was, slipping on her denim shorts and legwarmers, taking her snowboarding clothes and tucking them in a section of her suitcase she used for her dirty clothes. She'd wash them later, maybe after Brodi left.

Digging around in the front pockets of her suitcase, she found her iPod she always brought with her everywhere.

Well, not everywhere. She tried not to bring it whenever she was going to be around people, because she had a bad habit of turning her music up so loud that she couldn't even hear her own voice, much less, others. She already didn't understand a decent chunk of what the other snowboarders were saying, so she's made herself been keeping it in her suitcase whenever they snowboarded together. It was a bummer when Kaori was bored and her and the others didn't snowboard until an hour or however long it may be, but Kaori allowed herself to bring her phone. It also made her socialize with the other members of SSX more. She was already friends with Mac, Brodi, and even Eddie. But lately she has been pushing herself, in a good way, to talk to Elise and occasionally Moby when Kaori felt up to it. Elise turned out to be extremely nice, and understanding of Kaori. Kaori enjoyed talking to her, and Elise was almost like a mother figure to Kaori. If she was struggling with something, sure, Mac, Brodi, or Eddie would help, but Elise helped Kaori out in a girl-to-girl kind of way. Kaori really enjoyed her company, and the nervousness that Kaori had with getting to know new people was going away whenever she talked to Elise. She considered her a friend now, and Kaori hoped they could get closer in the future. Moby was a little harder to talk to though, especially since she was Japanese and he was British. It was hard to understand one another even more, but they were both polite and respected each other. The fact that Kaori stepped up her game to start making more of an effort to talk to him made Moby take a liking to her, and they would lightly joke around sometimes, wave at each other, whatever was convenient for the both of them.

As for the other members, like Seeiah, Marisol, and Zoe… None of them disliked Kaori very much, Seeiah was extremely "chill" as Elise had put it to Kaori when they were talking about her, to Kaori. Marisol sometimes seem to make fun of Kaori, but in almost a friendly way, and Kaori didn't mind. Marisol didn't usually hurt Kaori's feelings, and they also joked sometimes together. It was a little nerve-wracking when they couldn't understand each other, even more so than when Kaori talked to Moby, because Marisol seemed a little impatient with her sometimes, but needless to say, they got along. As for Zoe, their only connection between Kaori and her was that they were both females and some common interest in the same music. Although Zoe's was a little heavier, and Kaori's was a little more bubblegum pop, they both discovered they liked some of the same artists or bands, and would enjoy listening to music together when everybody else was just chilling.

The only members, of course, Kaori did not get along with, were JP, Luther, and Psymon. They both sort of hang together, not as best friends, but because if they didn't, they didn't have anyone else. JP and Luther were possibly considered pretty tight, but as for Psymon, he seemed to push everyone away. He still hangout with JP and Luther when he wasn't by himself, but Kaori even felt a little sorry for him. It was hard for her to picture having little to no friends, like Psymon. She always wondered if he ever wanted to secretly reach out to the other members, maybe if he just didn't know how to, but even when Kaori paid special attention, he never did. He never seemed to remotely want to. Psymon frightened Kaori, but it didn't stop her for feeling bad for him, and even JP and Luther. They only had one or two friends in their group, if it was even like that in the first place. And although she didn't know if the other members noticed it, it's not that she considered Psymon a friend, but… Kaori noticed that they did talk, even if most of it was threats and mocking each other, or Kaori screaming from Psymon scaring her. But with what it was, they had a sort of crazy connection. They talked a lot, but it was just mostly… Not nice talk.

Kaori caught herself spacing out, blinking herself back to focus as she took a seat on her bed. She plugged her device that allowed her music on her iPod to be played on the radio system in her hotel room. She placed her iPod in the console and skimmed through the songs, going to the 'artists' section and clicking 'BoA,' letting the songs shuffle through themselves. The first song that played was 'M.E.P.,' which was actually in Korean instead of Japanese, but Kaori still loved it anyway. As only the first few seconds of the easy going pop ballad song started to play, Kaori heard pacing outside her room. They were of someone heavy, and as Kaori patted her hair down slightly, she walked over to the door and opened it, smiling.

"Room freaking 520... Finally," Psymon had said, slipping his hotel key into the door. It had flashed green and he began opening it until he looked to his right to Kaori down the hall by about fifteen feet, peaking at Psymon. Kaori thought it had been Brodi and it was too late for Kaori to sneak back into her room, since Psymon had seen her.

They had both just stared at each other, for long, drawn out moments what felt like for Kaori. They waited for the other to say something, or move, or something…

"GRRRR ARGHHH!" Psymon all of the sudden shouted at Kaori, making her recoil back into her room with a slight shriek.

"PSYMOHN! You are mean!" Kaori said loudly through her door, only to hear Psymon's cackling back at her. She could hear Psymon push open his door, the slight clicking noise that signaled her that he was in his room. Kaori shut her door and sighed, looking down at her watch again. 6:20.

"Haha, wait, Kaori!" Kaori heard through the door, her ears practically turning into satellites as she picked up that it was Brodi. She turned around and pulled open the door, looking to her left to see Brodi coming down the hallway.

"Brodi-kun!" Kaori beamed, waving at him.

"Psymon causing trouble again?" Brodi lightly laughed, taking a few last long strides until he reached Kaori. She noticed he had grabbed his own hotel key down at the desk too.

"Hai… Psymohn…" Kaori pouted, pursing her lips, making Brodi laugh more. He completely towered over her, almost a foot and a half taller than her. He rubbed the top of her head gently, smiling.

"Have you made yourself at home?" Brodi asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Mm, hai! Come in?" Kaori beamed this time at Brodi, turning on her heel back to her hotel room. She kept the door ajar slightly by hand so she didn't have to slip her key in it again, allowing her easy access back inside. Brodi followed behind her, the door closing behind him.

"Have you made yourshelf at hooome?" Psymon whispered mockingly to himself of Brodi, crossing his arms. He was inside his room, eavesdropping on Brodi and Kaori with his back resting against the door that would have led him into the hallway. He shook his head, walking over onto his hotel bed, finally crashing.


	4. Chapter 4: Baby Portable Rock

**Chapter 4: Baby Portable Rock**

"So…" Brodi started off, taking a seat on Kaori's bed. He took in a breath and sighed. "I'm sorry about not taking you to the First-Aid after the race, or assisting you get to your hotel."

Kaori went to say something, but Brodi waved his hand to signal her to be quiet.

"I wasn't expecting to be signing things so long, and if Eddie hadn't reminded me of going to that interview, I would have actually missed it. I apologize, Kaori," Brodi said, smiling slightly. His hands were clasped on his lap as his legs casually hang off of the bed. Kaori noticed Brodi smelled really good.

"It is okay, Boo-dodi," Kaori laughed, sounding out his name with her thick accent. Kaori used to really call Brodi 'Boo-dodi,' but after what you could say with small 'sessions' with Elise, Kaori had gotten most of their names pronounced correctly by now. Kaori occasionally called her friends with her thick accent, making them laugh. She liked that. But she still had a slight 'sh' sound in the beginning of Seeiah's name, and a 'zh' sound at the beginning of Zoe's name, and she always messed up Marisol's, and she wasn't bothered with getting Psymon's name right in the first place.

"You're sure?" Brodi asked, looking up at Kaori, who, Brodi didn't know it, but was having a mini-heart attack inside.

"Hai, I'm poseeteeve," Kaori confidently said as her iPod shuffled from 'M.E.P' by BoA to 'Key of Heart,' also by BoA.

"Alright," Brodi said, scooting farther back on the bed and making himself more comfortable. "Alright, if you say so then, Kaori."

Kaori nodded, clapping her hands together. "Hai!" She smiled, sitting next to Brodi on the bed. "So, Boo-dodi…" Kaori started, earning a chuckle from Brodi. "How was Gal-il-baldi?" Kaori peered up at Brodi, keeping to herself of the fact that she was admiring his sharp, tan features.

"Ah, I tripped a couple times…" Brodi began, laughing a little to himself afterwards. "I accidentally tripped over Eddie, but you now, he was chill and waved it off at me. I still feel bad though."

Kaori tilted her head to the side, asking, "Brodi… What is 'chill?'" Kaori looked honestly confused to Brodi, brush his fingertips against her cheek as he smiled more.

"It's like… Relax. Like you don't care, it doesn't matter. Very… Laid back," Brodi nodded to himself that it was a good enough definition. Kaori nodded back, getting it.

"Oh! Okay," Kaori said shyly looking up at Brodi as he pulled his hand from her cheek away. So Seeiah was laid back around Kaori then? Something like that.

"How about you?" Brodi said, making Kaori's eyed widen. "The race? How was it, besides your ankle?"

"Oh, race… It was hard. It kind of hurt, but…" Kaori looked for the right words. She knew how to say them, it's just that… She didn't believe she was saying them. It's like they weren't English, or Japanese. "Psymon helped me get through it, really," Kaori said, looking up at Brodi's reaction which was slightly surprised, but he looked more so interested to hear more. "He stopped on the jump I fell at and threw me to the next one-" Brodi laughed, Kaori laughing in unison as well. "And he gave me a push along the slopes, and he… Threw me across the finish line, as you saw. And… felt." Kaori finished, still laughing a bit, but looking surprised herself. When she said it, the words sounded nice. Psymon sounded nice. Sort of. … So of course, Kaori had to add one last thing. "But it all hurt, you know! The throws, pushes, shoves!" Kaori whined and laughed at the same time at Brodi, who also laughed.

"Yes, but could you have completed the course without him?" Brodi asked Kaori.

Kaori thought for a second. Kaori knew that both she and Brodi knew the answer, but Kaori didn't want to say it. She didn't want to credit Psymon for anything.

"I… No," Kaori did in her low, whiny voice, crossing her arms and trying not to laugh. "But I'm not thanking Psymon that!" Kaori defensively said, making Brodi think.

"I think you should. Psymon might appreciate it. Maybe he'll help you out again when you break your other ankle," Brodi grinned as Kaori shot him a sarcastically hurt look since he implied she was extremely clumsy. Which she was, of course.

Kaori shrugged. "Maybe… But he'll tease me, or something…" Kaori spaced out in the area in front of her.

"But he's still human," Brodi logically said, turning to Kaori. "He'll appreciate it, even just a little. He just might not show it."

Kaori looked up. She could imagine it now…

"_Psymohn?" She said, tapping him on his arm. He looked down at her and glared. "Psymohn.. Thanks, for at, Gal-il-baldi…" Psymon just stared at her, his face not moving once from its original displeased position. Kaori unsurely looked down and then Psymon smacked her on the back of the head, laughing as she fell to the ground._

"_God, Kaori! You're so lame, seriously?" Psymon walked away and shook his head, grinning as he grabbed his snowboarding equipment and leaving Kaori._

"… Kaori?" Brodi waved his hand in front of Kaori's face, earning him her attention. Kaori patted the cheeks of her face. She's been spacing out a lot lately.

"Gomen…" Kaori said, blushing. Kaori went to go on, but Brodi politely cut her off.

"Perhaps we can meet up tomorrow morning? We could take a walk, even around Garibaldi Park if you wanted to, or we could go swimming downstairs," Brodi said, talking about the indoor pool that Sea to Sky had downstairs, also with a Jacuzzi. "I want to shed out of these snowboarding clothes." Brodi looked down for Kaori's answer.

"Hai!" Kaori looked up and nodded, happily accepting Brodi's offer. And also, she was tired, and she still needed to shower too. Brodi smiled and pulled Kaori in for a hug on the bed, Kaori wrapping her arms around his neck and Brodi's around her waist.

"Oyasami nasai, Brodi… See you in the morning," Kaori inhaled one more breath of Brodi's sweet aroma as they both pulled away, Brodi getting up.

"Oyasami, Kaori," Brodi stood up with Kaori still on the bed, smiling one more time before he exited through the hotel room door, waving one last time before he shut it one more time on his way out.

Kaori froze there for a few seconds, waiting for Brodi to take a few steps to his own room. She then grabbed a pillow from the head of her bed, laying it on her lap and squealing loudly into it.

"YATTAAA!" Kaori kicked her legs up in the air, squishing her pillow tightly to herself as she breathed in again, "Arigato gozaimasu!" Kaori exhaled, lifting her head up from the pillow and then suddenly just falling back on the bed, holding her pillow next to her in her arms. Brodi and her talked, and they hugged, and it was so… Almost romantic. With the lighting, and the quietness… It was only them. Kaori bit her lip, going over the situation that just happened and thinking if she said or did anything wrong, made a fool of herself… And she thought about beating herself up over asking what "chill" had meant, but then she realized it had made Brodi smiled, and it showed that she wasn't afraid to ask Brodi things like that. In fact, she was glad she asked Brodi what it had meant.

"_Haru nanoni…~ Date mo shinai no?~ Baby…~ fushigi jyanai~?"_

Kaori heard her cellphone ringing and crawled farther up the bed, scrambling to get it.

" _Ima suguni…~ Uchi made muk-" _

Kaori saw it was Mac calling. She turned off her iPod and flipped her phone open to talk. "Hedo?" Kaori said through the phone, sitting back down on the bed.

"Hey, Kaori! Are you alright?" Mac asked, and Kaori heard a lot of background noise. It sounded like he was in the hotel lobby, Kaori guessed.

"Makku!" Kaori smiled, nodding, even though Mac couldn't see. Mac laughed at Kaori's pronunciation, waiting for her to answer. "Mm, hai, I'm good. My ankle is only sprained. Mr. M said Snowdream will not be a problem for me. It already feels a little better," Kaori said, beginning to pace around her hotel room. She still had slight unbalance with the pain in her ankle, but she always paced when she was talking on the phone to anyone who spoke English instead of Japanese. It was harder to communicate with merely talking for Kaori. Sometimes she relied on hand motions or even pictures, but she couldn't do that whenever she was on the phone. Mac was the most preferred to be on the phone with though. If Mac didn't understand Kaori or if Kaori couldn't explain herself, Mac understood, and moved onto the next subject. She was hardly nervous, which was incredibly nice.

"That's great! You in your room then?" Mac asked, walking to the same elevators Kaori, Psymon, and Brodi all went up.

"Yes! All settled in and everything. Congradoolashuns on third place!" Kaori said, laying on her back and putting her Panda on her chest, playing with it and pretending to make it dance as her and Mac talked.

"Hey, thanks, Kaori. I'm just glad you're still in the game though!" Mac said, now pushing the button with the '5' on it, heading up. "It would have really sucked without you, you know? You're, like… One of the only cool riders out of the group," Mac smiled, watching the numbers in the elevator go up.

"Arigato, Makku-chan. You are cool too!" Kaori smiled, getting off of the bed and holding her cellphone to her ear with her shoulder, squatting down next to her suitcase.

"Haha, thanks Kaori. What room are you in by the way? Do you know?" Mac asked, the doors opening as he came to his stop, taking a step out.

"517," Kaori said, unpacking some shampoo, conditioner, a razor, lotion, soap… Everything that she had packed in her bathroom compartment of her suitcase for her shower. "You?"

"519," Mac smiled, turning around to find his room. "We're next to each other again!" Mac said as Kaori remembered when they were across neighbors in their last hotel, when they had snowboarded together in Alaska.

"We should hangout tomorrow!" Kaori said, getting flat back up on her feet and placing her stuff on the bathroom sink. "Me and Brodi were going to go swimming or for a walk or something. Maybe we could bring Eddie or Elise or something like that, too… It could be fun?" Kaori suggested, getting her pajamas and placing them and a towel next to her many other objects she had just unpacked.

"Yeah, totally! That sounds awesome!" Mac said, walking down the hallway.

"Sugoi!" Kaori sat down at the edge of her bed, crossing her legs. "Okay! I will text you tomorrow and we will hangout!"

"Sweet! See you then, Kaori!" Mac said

"Mm! Mata ne!" Kaori cheered, hanging up her phone. She set it on her nightstand, hopping into the bathroom afterwards. Kaori examined her face, pinching and stretching it and puffing out her cheeks. Her skin was extremely fair and smooth, the slight makeup she wore a bit smudged, but hardly noticeable. Her cheeks were now a bit flushed from Brodi's visit, but she still looked together, considering her day consisted of snowboarding, Psymon, and hugging Brodi. She ruffled her hair slightly then pulled off all her clothes, leaving them lay on the floor as she stepped into the shower, adjusting the temperature accordingly.

For a few minutes, she just let the water beat down on her back, thinking about the day… Garibaldi… Her ankle.. Psymon… Mr. M… Elise… Brodi… Mac… And tomorrow… She'd go on a walk… Maybe swimming, even… Did she bring her bathing suit…? She wasn't sure… Kaori then heard a song, almost muffled, coming from her bedroom.

"_Haru nanoni…~ Date mo shinai no?~ Baby…~ fushigi jyanai~? Ima sugu ni…~ Uchi made mukae ni…~ Baby…~ Kite kurenai…~? Denwa shite sukoshi amaete-mita nowa…~ Kono koi ga honto no koi ka shiritaku natta no~!"_

Kaori just listened to her ringtone, grabbing some shampoo and scrubbing it near her scalp, massaging it.

"_Wild ni…~ Dokoka e drive…~ Baby…~ Sugu ikanai~? Ichiban suki na fuku amai pastel no…~ Kono koi ga honto no koi nara ii to omowanai~?"_

After making herself stand still, she intently listened to see if anybody had left her a message. After more than several seconds of silence though, Kaori continued showering. She hadn't heard anything.

After the shower, Kaori dried herself off, slipped herself into her pajamas, and slowly made her way to her bed. She tied her hair up in a high, condensed bun, sliding under the covers and then grabbing her cellphone. 3 Text Messages, 1 Missed Call, 1 Voicemail.

To: Kaori

From: Elise

_hey, kaori! Brodi said we should all hangout tomorrow. I'm down chica!_

Kaori smiled, moving on to the next text message.

To: Kaori

From: Eddie

_yooo kaori. I need to talk to you tomorrow. Can you meet me in the morning in the lobby?_

Kaori looked confused, replying to Eddie's message quickly.

To: Eddie

From: Kaori

_Yes, Eddie! I will be there around 10:00, if that is okay! ^^_

She pressed 'Send,' then looked at the last message.

To: Kaori

From: Bakabakabakabaka

_KAORIIIIIIIIIIIIIII. MAKE SURE TO KEEP A NIGHTLIGHT ONNNNN!_

Kaori almost screamed at her phone, instead letting it exhale out to an extremely irritated sigh. It was Psymon. And she knew Psymon was referring to when she was talking to Elise about a scary horror movie she saw with her friends about a month ago, and Psymon had overheard and always was teasing her about it. Like now. He wouldn't let it go.

To: Bakabakabakabaka

From: Kaori

_Ahondara! Baka, baka! Anata no koto daikirai! GO TO BED!_

Frustrated, Kaori shut her phone and turned off all of the lights (except the one on her nightstand… Psymon's text did, of course, get the better of her.) and rolled over, closing her eyes. She had her face snuggled into her pillow, breathing in that hotel scent. After a couple minutes of her just about drifting off into a peaceful sleep, her phone buzzed again.

Hey guys! How's the story? Too fast, too slow? Think you know what's going to happen? Please review!

Also, Kaori's ringtone is the same song that plays whenever you level her up! Like Star, Champ, Sensei… All that good stuff. It's "Baby Portable Rock" by Pizzicato Five. Also the name of the chapter!

And last but not last, thank-you to **Akaichou95**, for the review, and the polite messages! They help! (=


	5. Chapter 5: Teenage Dream

**Chapter 5: Teenage Dream**

From: Eddie

To: Kaori

_are you still awake by any chance? Could we talk now?_

Kaori woke herself up to look at her phone, touching her soaking wet hair as she did so, and then looking down at her pajamas. No, she wasn't asleep, but she might as well have been. She was everything asleep except that she was awake, and only hardly at that. But Eddie sounded like he needed to talk to her, and she wouldn't be able to sleep if she had declined him anyway.

To: Eddie

From: Kaori

_Come to room 517. :3_

'Send,' click, shut. Kaori pushed the covers off of her, the cold she felt against her wet body waking her up a little, which she had intended it to do. She patted her face, slipping off the bed and shaking herself awake a bit. She walked over to the nightstand and put her iPod on shuffle, turning the volume down slightly. She didn't want to have something as distracting as a TV on when Eddie came over, but some background noise might ease the tension a bit. She wasn't sure what it was about, but she was pretty sure that precautions were okay to take. '2cm' by Rie Fu came on, and Kaori left her iPod alone from there, letting it shuffle its way across her playlists as it pleased throughout the time she stayed awake.

"Yo, yo, Kaori?" Kaori heard Eddie whisper through the door, knocking a couple times.

"Coming!" Kaori whispered in a hush, walking to the door and opening it.

Eddie had loud clothing on, as usual, and his fro was as big as ever. Kaori noticed he changed out of his snowboarding clothes, but his loud clothes didn't makeup for the fact he had a troubled expression on his face.

"Is everything okay?" Kaori asked, stepping aside and motioning for Eddie to come in. Eddie smiled, giving a nod of the head to Kaori as he sat down on her bed, shrugging.

"I dunno, Kaori… Hey, thanks for letting me barge in like this," Eddie started, Kaori bowing her head a little as Eddie continued. " And not to turn you into a psychiatrist or something, but… Like… Well… Okay, you and Elise talk, right?" Kaori nodded. "So, you guys, like… Talk?" Eddie said, scratching the back of his head as Kaori sat down next to him.

"Hai, Eddie. We talk… What's wrong?" Kaori peered under Eddie's gaze who was staring at the floor, holding his head in his hands. After he didn't respond to Kaori for a few seconds, she poked his shoulder, nudging him a couple times which made him smile.

"Man, it's just… Me and Elise, we go way back, you know? We known each other for, like, ever. And… I denno, like I feel like things are changing! You know?" Eddie exasperatingly said, and Kaori just nodded in response. "And, lately, when… Well, like, when I see her, it's just… Now…" Eddie said, gaining momentum with each word he said. "I think I like her!" Eddie suddenly blurted out. Kaori thought of Eddie as a balloon animal that was going to pop eventually.

"You are fond of Elise? As a girlfriend?" Kaori asked, acting a little more surprised than she really was. Kaori could see, even by just looking how Eddie looked at Elise, he liked her. Both Eddie and Elise never said anything about it to Kaori though, but Kaori just… she just knew. She could sense it, feel it, between them. And she suspected the other SSX crew knew it as well. As Kaori's thoughts processed, Eddie's face was actually getting a pinkish hue to it.

"Yeah…" Eddie said, nodding. "As a girlfriend… I really like her Kaori," Eddie looked up, then at Kaori, grabbing her by the shoulders and desperately looking at her. "You're a girl! Kaori, what do I do? I've liked her for what feels like forever, and this whole King and Queen tournament thing, I'll be seeing her even more often than when I'm used to now! I can't ignore her like I try to sometimes! Should I tell her? What if it's too late? She doesn't have a secret boyfriend, right? Has she ever talked about me?" Eddie's eyes were wide, scaring Kaori a bit, but she was too busy being humored to notice. "What room is she in? Are we seated on the same plane together on Monday for Snowdream? Has she told you, Kaor-"

"Eddie!" Kaori laughed, clasping her hand over his mouth. "Calm down!" Kaori sweetly smiled, slowly taking her hand away as if Eddie might start yammering again and she'd have to shut him up once more. "I think…" Kaori though, putting her words together. "You should tell Elise-" Eddie got up to walk out the door, just like that, like he was going to tell her this very moment. Kaori shook her head, placing her hands on his shoulders and pulling him back down to sit on the bed. "When you are ready," Kaori said, making Eddie disappointed. "You really like her…" Kaori said, as Eddie nodded. "She is important to you," Kaori went on, Eddie nodding more. "So it is important that she knows… Whether she likes you back, or not, I don't want to give you false ex-peck-at-shee-uns," Kaori said, slowly sounding out the word to make it come out right. Eddie looked up, staring at Kaori deep into her brown, brown eyes.

"Kaori… Does she ever talk about me?" Eddie hopefully looked up at her, twisting around to face her more straightly. "Do you think I have a chance?"

Kaori stared back at Eddie, unsure of what to say. Yes, Elise talked about Eddie. But was it in a romantic, dreamy sense? Kaori wasn't sure. What was considered longing after someone, by talking about them, in America compared to Japan… It was very different. Relationships, friendships, everything was different. She searched for honest words, but without the false hope she wanted to give Eddie. "Hai, yes," Kaori said, making Eddie appreciatively smile. "She does. She thinks you are funny, and that… 'You are a character,'" Kaori said, obviously directly quoting something Elise had said about Eddie with the way she said it. "I do not know if she likes you, but she talks about you, a lot…" Kaori looked up to see Eddie smiling, almost laughing out of relief. "About the fun you have, and things you did… She might like you-" Eddie's eyes went big, making Kaori stop herself, "but I cannot say for sure."

Eddie looked something between anxious and happy and disappointed, sitting in only half content on Kaori's bed. He tapped his foot, scratching his head again and resting his chin on his hand, concoctioning up a plan.

"Kaori…" Eddie began, talking as he thought, not bother thinking it over twice. "We're supposed to hangout tomorrow… You, me, Elise, Brodi, whoever else…" Eddie took long pauses between his words, but he kept stringing them on through. "Could you talk to her? Could you see if… Maybe if you talked to her, that she likes me? If she wants to go out with a guy like me?" Eddie stared at anticipation at Kaori, jiggling his left foot up and down. '2cm' by Rie Fu faded out, and 'Teenage Dream' by Katy Perry came on. Elise had showed her this song a couple weeks ago, and Kaori was hooked. But she didn't say anything about that to Eddie. She kept her focus on him and Elise for the time being.

"Yes. Yes, I could do that," Kaori thought, reassuring herself. Eddie wanted her to do it, and he was her friend. She had no problem doing it. She just had a feeling in the pit of her stomach if things didn't work out, at least part of it would be on her shoulders. "You want me to just ask if she… Adores you?" Kaori asked. She didn't know when 'like' was used as to express just liking someone, or having a crush on someone, so she had to substitute other words instead. Eddie laughed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah, Kaori, that would be awesome," Eddie said, putting his hands back behind his head and resting it on them. "I owe you one, seriously," Eddie started saying, looking more relaxed, Kaori noticed. She noticed that he looked a little tired, and she glanced at the time. It was just past nine o'clock and-

"So you dig anyone on the slopes?" Eddie casually asked, turning his head to Kaori.

"Do I… huh?" Kaori asked, needing clarification.

"Do you, you know, _like _anybody. You know, do you have a crush on someone?" Eddie asked. There was that 'like' thing again, Kaori noticed.

"I…" Kaori said, taking her turn to be nervous. She shyly shrugged, making Eddie laugh and lay back on the bed.

"You can tell me, Kaori. This is why I talk to you about this kind of stuff. I know you won't blab it all away to everybody else," Eddie admitted, making Kaori smile. "You are a really good friend-"

"_Haru nanoni…~ Date mo shinai no~?"_

Kaori and Eddie both heard her cellphone ringing, Kaori looking up and Eddie and Eddie laying his head to the side, showing he didn't care if she checked who texted her. Kaori flipped open her phone, and as Kaori read it, Eddie saw her roll her eyes.

To: Kaori

From: Bakabakabakabaka

_I bet you left your lights on._

Kaori huffed at her phone, texting back at lightning speed. Eddie raised his eyebrows.

To: Bakabakabakabaka

From: Kaori

_STOP IT! GO AWAY!_

Kaori pouted and shut her phone, slamming it on her nightstand and crossing her arms, mumbling to herself in her native language.

"… Who was _that?"_" Eddie curiously asked, propping his arm up on the bed and resting his head on it to look up at Kaori.

"Psymohn! Stupid Psymohn!" Kaori fumed, crawling more into the center of the bed where Eddie was, continuing to sulk. "He won't go away!" Kaori complained, pretending to pull her hair out, making Eddie laugh again.

"He's just a goof. He's a little nuts, but he can be a funny guy if you let him," Eddie said, and Kaori knew this was probably true, for Eddie. She's seen them talk before, on and off the slopes. They seemed to talk the most whenever they were near each other either in the lineup before they raced, or during, being goofs together in competition occasionally. Kaori admits to herself that they both together have made her laugh before while they were all snowboarding, but she wasn't going to tell Psymon that.

"Maybe for you," Kaori said with a sigh. "He is so mean to me!" Kaori kept going on. She wasn't sure if Eddie and Psymon were friends, but she was friends with Eddie. She knew he knew he acted towards her.

"Yeah, well, maybe he doesn't know how to act around you. You guys are so…" Eddie pondered, continuing, "different. Really different. Besides insults or mocking or teasing, he might just not have anything to say. I mean, have you ever tried to really talk to Psymon?"

Kaori looked at Eddie and bit her lip, giving Eddie the answer he needed.

"See? Man, you just gotta like… Say something! Something that's… not not nice!" Eddie said, throwing Kaori's mind in a spiral with the double negative he used.

"Say something nice, or not nice?" Kaori asked.

"Nice. Just try it, even if he just yells back or something. At least try it to say you tried, then it'll be his fault you guys hate each other's guts, and not yours too," Eddie said, smiling. Kaori just sat there, unsure if she should trust what Eddie was saying. As she looked down, still thinking, Eddie interrupted her thoughts. "So… I'm not letting you get away that easily. Anybody you like on good ole' SSX? Or are you just living the single life?" Eddie said, making Kaori blush.

"I think…" Kaori said, laughing sheepishly. "That Brodi is cute," Kaori's face went a strawberry red, Eddie giving her a gentle shove on the arm.

"I knew you liked somebody!" Eddie said, which surprised Eddie. She thought he was going to say something along the lines of his age, or that they're too different… Eddie and Elise at least had relatively common interests, but her and Brodi were pretty different. Even their physical physique showed that.

"He like you?" Eddie asked. Kaori shrugged.

"He's very nice to me. But sometimes, I think, that maybe he is… More of a big brother that he sees himself when he talks to me. Not a… Girlfriend," Kaori said, a little hint of sadness in her voice. Kaori felt Eddie pat her shoulder.

"Hey, you never know. Brodi and I are tight too," Kaori knew where Eddie was going with this. "You want me to see if I can hook you two up?"

"Hook up?"

"Get together. Couple…" Eddie said, squishing his face together. "Foo-tarr-ee," Eddie finished, making Kaori laugh. Kaori knew Eddie meant to say 'futari,' meaning 'together' in Japanese. He was a good learner though. Kaori enjoyed the small sessions she and Eddie had in their spare time.

"Maybe," Kaori smiled, looking up. "You will talk to Brodi, and I will talk to Elise?" Kaori bravely reassured, letting Eddie know that he wanted him to talk to Brodi for her.

"Yeah, dude! Totally! It could even be like a double date thing tomorrow!" Eddie said, smiling. Kaori nodded.

"Mac is coming too," Kaori added in, making Eddie cross his arms. It's not that he didn't like Mac… It's just that Eddie had a hunch Mac liked Kaori.

"Uh-oh, Kaori. You sure he should come? Mac seems to really dig you, I think…" Eddie said, making Kaori blush a bit.

"Makku-chan? Oh, no, Mac is more like… Family. Kazoku," Kaori said, making Eddie shake his head.

"Open your eyes… Sho-joe!" Eddie said, making Kaori laugh again. Eddie tried to say 'girl' in Japanese.

"It's true! Mac is like my little brother, or a cousin…" Kaori sighed, rubbing her arm nervously. "… Does he really like me?"

"Yep," Eddie plainly said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"How do you know!" Kaori defensively said, crossing her arms. Eddie just patted her head. A lot of people did that.

"Kaori… I'm a guy. I just know. Plus, me and Mac have talked before…" Eddie drifted off, letting Kaori fill in the missing pieces. Mac had probably told Eddie that he liked her. "You sure he should come tomorrow? Brodi might back down, you know, if he thinks Mac and you should get together instead… I mean, Brodi's an adult. The guy's, what, twenty-nine?" Eddie unsurely said. He didn't want to hurt Kaori's feelings.

"I know…" Kaori said. Was it even worth it?

"But hey," Eddie said, patting her back this time. Brodi's the kind of guy where it wouldn't matter if you liked him and he didn't share the same feelings," Kaori cringed. "You guys can still be just as tight afterwards even. Same for me and Elise, I think," Eddie actually sounded a little unsure at this point. "He's just that chill kind of guy… It'll be fine," Eddie finalized, looking at Kaori. "You still in for this?" Eddie asked. Kaori just stared off for a second, closing her eyes. She really, really liked Brodi… She loved the flops of her heart and the tumbles her stomach took when she saw him, the butterflies, the goosebumps… Brodi was such a gentleman, and he was smart, funny, and handsome… He was so perfect to Kaori.

"Hai. I'm in."

Wow, that took a bit longer than I thought! Sorry! ^^

Please, please **REVIEW! **You guys, it helps so much, you wouldn't believe it! Even the short ones help. (=


	6. Chapter 6: TOKYO LADY

Okay, so I updated the summary, and I also have a live journal fansite going on for this story/Kaori Nishidake herself. If you go to the communities on , it's just /uhohxitskaori. Check it out sometime! I'm hoping to get more publicity of this story from other than . Also, I need more **REVIEWS! **): They help a ton guys! Guarantee the story will get updated faster with the more reviews I get. I love to know who's reading, or how many.

Also, August 19th was my last day of summer… The story might go on hiatus at one point, or might be slow-going at times. I hope it won't be though. Keep me strong! xoxo

**Chapter 6: TOKYO LADY**

After Kaori and Eddie said their good-bye's and see you later's, Kaori snuggled herself back into bed, setting her alarm clock for 8:30AM tomorrow. Tomorrow, which was Sunday, was a day off for all of SSX. Sunday night, everybody would come back to Sea to Sky, pack their luggage, and leave unbelievably early the next Monday morning for their flight to Japan to race at Snowdream. Kaori's mind and body were extremely tired from Garibaldi, and from talking to Eddie… So she shut her eyes, letting a fine, fine sleep take over her whole entire body…

"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" Kaori's body jolted up, smacking the hotel's alarm clock. She successfully turned it off, but also successfully knocked it on the floor as well. Wriggling herself out of bed, she rubbed her eyes and untied her hair, letting the dampness of it send chills throughout her body. Keeping it tied up, it never dried all the way when she went to bed, but she couldn't stand having her hair drown her face as she slept. Kaori looked at the clock, signaling it was 8:30AM. She grabbed her cellphone, texting Brodi, Eddie, Elise, and Mac if they all still wanted to hangout.

To: Brodi, Eddie, Elise, Mac

From: Kaori

_Good-morning everybody! What are we doing this morning? (n_n)v_

Kaori mostly wokeup everybody except Elise, who was already showered and packed away all of her stuff for the plane ride to Japan. She was an extremely early riser whenever snowboarding competition was around. She enjoyed stretching and waking up with a nice shower, and was also already on her way down to have breakfast downstairs of Sea to Sky. Brodi, Eddie, and Mac were all still sleeping, but had their alarms set to wakeup shortly, and would receive Kaori's text then.

Kaori shuffled her way to her suitcase, taking off her pajamas in the process. She was sitting there, clad in her matching bra and underwear, picking out what to wear. She held up a pair of funky, black Stella McCartney Patent ankle boots her mother bought her for Christmas. Kaori wasn't much of a designer or expensive brand name person, but the shoes were very cute and funky, and as Elise put it, 'chic.' She made a mental note to get someone to take her picture of her with them on to show her mother too. She plopped the boots out, searching more in her suitcase. She grabbed a brown, button down and polyester long-sleeved cardigan that had an inch border of darker brown near where the stitching was at the buttons going down and near the bottom and at the end of the sleeves, paired with a blank tank top to slip underneath it, and then a black, denim pleated skirt with some black leggings with hardly noticeable swirls over them. The outfit was a bit grown-up for Kaori, considering she usually had brought along her clothes from back home, which consisted of bright colors and cartoon characters… But Kaori wanted to look slightly more grown-up today.

After slipping on her clothes, drying her hair, and only using a bit of light bronzer she borrowed from Marisol and applying some of her own brown eyeliner at the corners of her eyes, Kaori dashed out the hotel door with her purse tucked in her cardigan's front pocket.

Stepping into the elevator, Kaori pressed the 'L' for 'lobby,' and looked at her phone. She had 1 missed text message from Elise, which she must have gotten when she was blow-drying her hair.

To: Kaori

From: Elise

_Hey Kaori! The dudes wakeup yet? Lol, I'm at Starbucks! Come have breakfast with me! (:_

Kaori smiled at the text message, replying before the elevator doors opened.

To: Elise

From: Kaori

_I am on my way down right now! See you in a minute! :3_

Shutting her phone just as the doors opened, Kaori walked out of the lobby and onto the busy street just outside of Sea to Sky. The outside was almost like in indoor plaza, kind of like New York in a snow globe, except with the bitter cold nipping at her ears and nose made her realize she was a teeny bit miserable.

"_I've got you… under my skin… I've got you… Deep in the heart of me…"_

Kaori could hear music playing above her from a building or store blaring by as she walked by to Starbuck's. As she came closer and could make out Elise's blonde hair sitting at a table sipping coffee, and what looked like either a donut or muffin sitting in front of her, Kaori realized that the music was coming from Starbucks itself.

"Kaori!"

Kaori could see Elise had spotted her and waved her down, gesturing for her to come sit with her. Kaori smiled and waved back, following up to her table.

"Hi, Elise!" Kaori chipperly said, sitting down across from her. "How are you?"

Elise shrugged, casually laughing a bit. "Oh, you know, the usual. Ready to kick Snowdream's butt already!" Elise fake punched Kaori, making both of them laugh more. "But I'm glad I got to see my family yesterday. I stopped by after we were at Garibaldi. And I got to see my dog, Iggy…" Elise nodded, smiling and taking off her sunglasses. Even though it was cold, it was pretty sunny still. "So that was nice to do. What you been up to, girl?"

"Just wokeup," Kaori yawned, getting up from her seat. "I'm gonna grab a bite to eat!" Kaori smiled, Elise giving an 'alright!' reply back to her.

As Kaori stood in line to get a quick breakfast, Elise eyed Psymon, JP, and Luther all clustering near the Starbucks' entrance. She put her sunglasses back on, even though the sun was no longer coming through the windows that led outside, she figured maybe one of them would have less of a chance of seeing her. Elise could see Luther and JP talking, Psymon mostly just nodding or laughing at whatever stupid thing one of them said. Elise wasn't particularly fond of all three of them, but the one she could stand the most was Psymon. JP was too arrogant for her taste, and Luther was too rude. Psymon was weird, and extremely… Overwhelming. But Elise could at least stand him. They talked once every blue moon.

"Bonjour, mi Elise!" Elise felt her vein throbbing in her forehead. It was JP. Elise look behind her to see if Kaori come back, and was halfway relieved when she saw her finally asking for what she wanted there. "How is my lovely snow flower? Daydreaming of beating me in Snowdream?" JP said, putting his sunglasses on his forehead as he walked over to Elise. Elise could tell just by looking at him that he thought he was hot shit. She just stared at him. She couldn't tell if he was actually infatuated her, or just being a jackass. Or both. As JP smirked at her, getting in line behind Kaori and a few strangers of Starbucks, she saw Psymon and Luther coming her way too. She didn't show she felt intimidated around all of these guys. Elise never showed emotions like that. Psymon and Luther both pulled up a chair next to her table, a little too close for comfort. Psymon and Luther weren't friends with Elise, but they knew each other. Just as long as they didn't talk to her, she really didn't give a damn.

"Elise! I am back!" Kaori piped in, saving Elise from her silent fuming. Kaori had coffee and a donut in a plastic bag in her hand, and what also looked like in there was a bottle of water. Elise smiled, pulling the chair next to her out for Kaori to sit. Kaori graciously sat down, and Elise could feel that she noticed Luther, and especially Psymon, that was sitting next to them. JP was still in line, talking to two pretty girls that swarmed him. Kaori and Elise looked at each other, hoping the other would find something to talk about before one of the guys interrupted them. They were talking amongst themselves, but with that group, they both knew it wasn't going to stay that way for long.

"Still no word from the guys?" Elise asked, looking way too happy when she said it. Of course, they could talk about what they were planning to do today. That's also when Kaori's mind, at lightning speed, remembered about Eddie, Brodi, Mac, their plans, the pool, a walk…

"One shecond!" Kaori said, with a mouthful of donut. She fished out her cellphone out of her pocket, noticing she had exactly three new messages.

To: Kaori

From: Eddie

_Kaori! Where are you? Are you awake yet? Is elise with you?_

Kaori quickly looked up at Elise and replied, hoping her expression didn't look too out of the ordinary for Elise to question her.

To: Eddie

From: Kaori

_eddie! I am in Starbucks with elise! Psymon luther and JP are here too though. Come meet us!_

Sent. Next message.

To: Kaori

From: Mac

_Yo kaori! I got your txt! Im down for whatever you wanna do today. Who else is tagging along? (:_

To: Mac

From: Kaori

_Elise, me, brodi, eddie and you! I think that is it makku!_

Sent. Last one, which was from Brodi. Kaori's heart jumped out of her throat. Well, it felt like it did.

To: Kaori

From: Brodi

_Good-morning, Kaori. Are you still in your hotel room? (:_

Kaori smiled, and was all giddy and bubbly now. She replied, a smile on her face, which Elise noticed.

To: Brodi

From: Kaori

_Brodi! (: I am in Starbucks for breakfast! Come sit with us!_

Kaori was grinning like an idiot in her seat before Elise said, "Who texted you? You got a boyfriend now?"

Kaori's head bolted up, blushing and shaking her head. "No, no! No! It was just Brodi! He texted-"

"Oh, _Brodi._ Well that explains it even more than if it was your boyfriend," Elise slyly smiled, taking a sip of her coffee. Elise knew by the way Kaori talked and texted Brodi, that she was infatuated with the guy. It was cute, really. "You're still single, aren't you?"

Kaori nodded. "M'hm, solo," Kaori said, becoming flustered. She always did when she thought about him, or talked about him… Kaori thought about last night, how they were alone together in her room, how they hugged, how they talked…

How they talked. That's right.

Kaori remembered Brodi telling her that Kaori should thank him, for helping her place a spot in the race. Kaori took another bite of her muffin, thinking. She noticed Elise texting on her phone, so Kaori kept on daydreaming. Eddie also said that she should try to talk to Psymon, as friends. Kaori rolled her eyes even at the thought, but she figured she would wait until Eddie got here to do that. That way, Eddie could see Psymon would continue being hurtful towards Kaori, and it wasn't her fault there was such friction between the two. Kaori looked over at Psymon who seemed to be spacing out as well, staring at him as she contemplated what to do. Several times in a row she tried to sum up the courage to walk over to him, say something, but her body kept failing her. She couldn't do it.

"Kaori?" Elise asked, looking at her with a little bit of a worried expression. "You okay girl?"

Kaori looked at Elise and sheepishly nodded. "Yeah, fine!" Kaori said, with an awkward smile on her face. Elise concerningly furrowed her brows while smiling and nodded. Kaori sighed, curling her hands into tight fists. She wanted to say something to Psymon so bad, not anything angry, and she wanted to do what Brodi told her to do. She wanted to show to him, and herself, that she could be nice to Psymon. That she wasn't the one creating drama between them. So finally, Kaori quietly stood up, walked over to Psymon's vicinity, and she was hardly two feet away from him. He had looked up at Kaori, hardly looking up even, because even though he was sitting down in a chair, Kaori's stood up height and Psymon's sitting down were almost even. Psymon crossed his arms and smirked, as if totally aware what Kaori was going to do. Kaori ignored it, finishing what she came here to do.

"Psymohn…" Kaori started, frantically searching for words without looking scared. Brodi wants you to do it. It will make Brodi happy. "I…" Kaori's mind drew a blank as Psymon looked up at her. He hadn't said anything yet, and Kaori was a little surprised. In fact, he almost looked a bit patient with her gathering her English together. "Thank-you." Kaori quickly said, bowing her head slightly. "At Garibaldi…" Kaori gathered more momentum, her words sputtering out fast, but at least they were coming out at all. "If it were not for you, I would have been ee-lim-ih-nate-uhd," Kaori said, struggling more with the last word, 'eliminated.' She kept her head down, but still shifted her eyes up to look at Psymon, who had merely crossed his legs. Kaori lifted her head, awkwardly standing there, waiting for Psymon to say something, do something. Anything.

"You're welcome."

Kaori looked up, not covering the fact that she was surprised. She tilted her head slightly, and Psymon just shrugged. Kaori's face completely showed how confused she was, and Psymon laughed a little.

"What?" Kaori said, straightening her face out. Psymon shrugged again, crossing his leg.

"Being nice to you is almost as satisfying as treating you like a sack of potatoes on the slopes. You _so_ don't even know what to do right now," Psymon chuckled, looking up at her. And he was right. Kaori just looked around, looking back up at Psymon and smiling, shrugging herself.

"You are right," Kaori admitted, bowing her head slightly once more before walking away, taking her seat next to Elise without looking back. Somehow, she was embarrassed. Or at least felt her face being red and hot.

"What was _that _about?" Elise almost laughed, looking at Kaori. Elise was actually glad Kaori had the guts to say something to Psymon. Kaori merely shrugged again, patting her cherry cheeks. She still didn't know what to say. Psymon and Kaori both being nice to each other was… It was weird. But nice. Kaori looked up and saw Brodi, Mac, Eddie, and… Marisol come over. Kaori pouted.

"Kaori!" Brodi waved, making Kaori smiled. She was all too aware of the butterflies.

"Boo-dodi!" Kaori laughed, standing up and waving back. She could see them all coming to the front of Starbucks through the glass window. As Kaori sat back down, she saw Brodi talking to Marisol. Her heart sunk. She didn't know if they liked each other, but Kaori knew Brodi thought Marisol was extremely beautiful. And she was. She was bubbly, smart, fun… Honestly, Kaori thought Marisol was a bit like her. Just more of a… Woman. Her smile had completely faltered by now.

"Yo, Kaori!" Eddie waved, Mac also smiling at her. Kaori excitingly waved back.

"Hello Elise," Brodi said, acknowledging her presence. Elise nodded her head back, smiling herself. "Hello, Kaori," Brodi smiled at her, Kaori blushing.

"Hey, Brodi…" Kaori said. Kaori could feel everybody looking at her and Brodi, making Kaori duck her head. It's like everybody knew she liked him now.

"What are we doing today, chica?" Marisol asked, taking a seat around her as did everybody else. They all managed to fit at the small table. Kaori tried to make her face look not so sour and smile.

"Whatever everybody else would enjoy!" Kaori smiled. It wasn't that she didn't like Marisol, it's just… She was almost competition with her to Brodi. She was surprised she wasn't mad about beating her unfairly at Garibaldi too. Kaori knew it wasn't her fault, but still… Kaori glanced at Psymon, who was eyeing her group at the table. Suddenly, Kaori felt… bad.

"Let's go to the Juzuzziiiii!" Marisol laughed, throwing her arms up. Elise rolled her eyes, texting Kaori as the others talked amongst themselves.

To: Kaori

From: Elise

_seriously? She's coming? Did you know? ):_

Kaori saw her phone beeping, smiling a little as she saw it was from Elise. She was so sneaky. Kaori texted back.

To: Elise

From: Kaori

_No. I did not. ): I'm not happy with her here too._

Kaori sent and shut her phone, crossing her arms as she surveyed the small crowd around her.

"Dude, the pool in general just sounds so awesome! Let's do it!" Eddie cheered, looking over to Kaori. Kaori thought for a second. She smiled to herself as she knew the thought of Elise in a bikini would probably drive Eddie up a wall and around the corner. In a good way.

"Yes! Let us!" Kaori clapped her hands together, feeling some excitement. The pool could be fun, and the Jacuzzi at Sea to Sky Hotel was really nice. She remembered she packed her bathing suit, and she knew Brodi would like the pool, since he had such a big thing for water. Still, the thought of Marisol being there intimidated her, it still wasn't going to stop her.

"Kaori?" Brodi said, earning Kaori's attention. She tilted her head to the side.

"Yes, Boo-dodi?" Kaori smiled, feeling like if Brodi asked her to jump off Mount Garibaldi, she would in a heartbeat.

"Did you talk to Psymon yet?" Brodi whispered, letting Kaori be the only one to hear as he leaned far across the table over to her. Kaori's face grew red, not about Brodi's closeness, but as she remembered how the incident with Psymon went. She was so flustered about it for some reason. Kaori shyly nodded, scratching the back of her head.

"Mm, m'hm. He accepted my thank-you. He was…" Kaori couldn't believe all of the good things she was saying about Psymon lately. "Nice to me."

Brodi nodded, as if that was what he expected. Kaori laughed a little bit to herself. Being nice to Psymon was even kind of exciting, it was just that new to her. And it was nice, not having somebody taunt her every second on and off the slopes-

"SO, KAORI!"

Kaori could feel her heart scream.

"WHAT'RE YOU PLANNING FOR ALL OF US TO DO TODAY?"

Kaori could feel that her chair was tipped back a large amount, and held onto the sides of it, tilting her head back and looking up to see… Of course. Psymon. Just when Kaori was getting a positive outlook on their… Friendship? No, not really. Knowing eachotherness? Kaori's thoughts kept getting cut off.

"I think the pool sounds great!" Psymon kept going on, beginning to spin Kaori's metal chair on the ground in fast circles, making her almost fall off with each complete turn she made. "You know, hangin' out with my buddies, getting everyone all pumped and psyched for Snowdream… It's gonna be great being together!" Psymon abruptly stopped spinning, making Kaori fly off her chair onto the floor in Starbucks as a few people gasped. Psymon held his lips together, trying not to laugh as she gasped and had gotten herself up, dusting herself off.

"PSYMOHN!" Was all Kaori could say, throwing her arms up in the air. Psymon just shrugged, giving a 'what-did-I-do-I've-just-been-standing-here-the-whole-time' look. Kaori sucked in a deep breath, calmed herself down, and turned to the group. Mostly Eddie and Brodi, as if to blame them.

"Yeah, dude! We'll so see you there!" Eddie suddenly said. Kaori must not have heard right. Psymon just laughed, holding up a hand to high-five Kaori.

"Awright! See you there, midget!" Psymon waited for Kaori to high-five him, almost as if he really half expected it. The death glare Kaori gave was enough said to make him put his hand back down and stick his tongue out at her. This was something Kaori did to him a lot when he made her really mad. Psymon walked away from the group to his table, grabbed JP's coffee followed by some angry French cursing from the poor guy, and walked out the door. A grumpy JP and a lumbering Luther behind him. Kaori just stared at Eddie as this all happened. Eddie definitely noticed, but paid no attention to it for now.

"Last one there's buying me dinner!" Eddie laughed, getting up and walking out the door. Everybody but Elise eventually trailed out behind him, giving Kaori waves and 'see ya's' as they left. Kaori was still standing in disbelief.

"… Quite a character…" was all Elise said as everyone just left. Elise knew Kaori knew who she was speaking of.

"Quite a char-uck-terr…" Kaori said, her accent making Elise smile into her Styrofoam cup of Starbucks coffee.


	7. Chapter 7: Your Color

**Chapter****7:****Your****Color**

Kaori and Elise had both walked up to the hotel together, making small talk about the flight to Snowdream tomorrow and talking about Elise's family in Canada and how Kaori might visit hers in Snowdream. Elise was the one that usually talked the most, but Kaori didn't mind. She enjoyed hearing about Elise's life, how full of life and attitude she was. She hoped to be a bit like her when she got older, mature and confident.

"So I'll see you downstairs then?" Elise inquired, referring to the pool downstairs as they walked into the hotel doors. Kaori smiled at her, giving her a nod as she walked over to the elevator.

"See you then!" Kaori said and waved her off as Elise went up to the man now at the desk while Kaori ventured upstairs.

Kaori glanced at her phone, showing her it was about 10AM. She sent a text to all the snowboarders in her phone saying to meet around 10:30 downstairs for fun. They had to be out of their hotel room by one, so she figured everyone would swim around a bit until maybe noon, then shower and pack for the flight to Japan.

The elevators arrived to the fifth floor, and without an upward glance, Kaori got out of the elevator and walked down the hallway to her hotel room. She hummed cheerfully to herself, getting the key card out of her pocket to slip into the door before she heard footsteps behind her. She whipped around, some of her hair hitting her face as her eyes went into focus of the figure.

"So when you guys going down?" Psymon asked, casually leaning against his hotel room door and smirking a bit.

Kaori lost the thoughts in her head and what few words she had in her mouth. It's not as if Kaori could say he couldn't go, because if anything, that would only make him more determined to. Should she lie about what time everyone planned to meet? Psymon would probably hurt her for that one. Kaori gulped.

"… 10:30?" Kaori squeaked out, unsure if she made the right decision or not. She supposed she did. Psymon wasn't acting hostile or anything towards her, at least right now. They both just stood there… casually. But awkwardly so as well. It was very strange. And just when Kaori thought she should say something else to end the weird silence, Psymon gave a nod and opened his door, going into his hotel room and leaving Kaori to stand there in the deserted hallway. She heard his door click close. Her heart was still hammering a little out of nervousness, and her palms were starting to get clammy. She hated how just Psymon's physical self in her presence could shake her up.

"What just…" Kaori had a quizzical look on her face, finishing the rest of her sentence in her head. 'What just happened? Is Psymon really hanging out with us then…? Ugh…'

She sighed, deciding to deal with it when everyone would meet downstairs. She almost preferred Psymon just to be flat out mean to her, because she knew how to handle that. And it's not that he's exactly being _nice_to her or anything, but anything not mean coming from Psymon to her… She didn't know how to deal with it. And Psymon probably knew that, which she deducted that it's why he was doing it in the first place.

Shaking her mind from the recent events and her thoughts of it, she got on her knees in front of her suitcase and unzipped it, revealing girly contents consisting of clothes, books, etc. Kaori dug around in the corner of her purse, fishing for her bikini. She yanked out the bottoms, which were plain black and cheeky. She threw them on the bed, her arm diving back into the corner for the matching top, which was black as well and halter-styled, with flatly studded gems on them. Kaori liked that it was slightly flashy and a bit more grownup from her plain hot pink one piece bathing suit she used to wear all the time. But she only wore this new black bikini once before, which was only in the private of her own home in her own Jacuzzi. She had been texting Zoe at the time actually, now that she remembered as she slipped off her cardigan and took off her boots. Over last summer, her and Zoe texted a good bit, mostly swapping photos of trendy clothes or sharing music. Zoe and Kaori had a surprisingly amount in common, now that she thought of it... She was just a bit more… hardcore? Boyish? A punkier version of herself? Something like that. Almost like Ying to her Yang. Kaori took the rest of her clothes off and tossed them into her suitcase, beginning to slip on her bikini bottoms and top. She tied both pairs of the strings in the back, adjusting herself slightly before bending over and digging into her suitcase again. Kaori had sent a photo of the new bikini she bought to Zoe who said it "reminded her of a toned-down sexy Lady GaGa." Kaori assumed this was a good thing, but just for another opinion of good measure, she had sent the bikini to Elise too who said it was "sexy" on her. Which was different. Kaori didn't get called sexy very often. It was more like cute, or pretty... Something more of an innocent nature. She pulled out a matching black Caftan dress, which was swishy but clung nicely in all the right places on her body.

Kaori glanced at her phone again. 10:15.

She grabbed some pins and a hair tie, rushing into the bathroom and twisting her hair up in a messy, cute bun on the top of her head, leaving her bangs to hang. After running some cherry red chap stick over her lips and dashing back into her bedroom, she zipped up her suitcase with all her belongings inside, slipped on some sandals, and walked out the door with her panda bag and hotel key in her hand.

Dragging her suitcase behind her, she walked down the hallway and to the elevator, her heart starting to pound slightly and praying for the elevator to hurry up in case Psymon came out. Or what if he already came out? What if she saw him down before she arrived at the pool? Kaori kept running scenarios in her head, stepping inside the elevator as it politely opened for her, pressing the 'L' button for lobby to drop off her luggage. It wasn't so much that she was scared of himself at this current point in time, but it was that she was scared of what to say, as far as real conversation goes. Is the tournament a too casual thing to talk about? Or should she just come right out and ask Psymon what's up with him being sort of nice to her lately? Her thoughts were interrupted with the sound of the elevator coming to a slight stop, opening the doors to reveal a slightly busier lobby. Kaori stepped out, seeing Brodi, Marisol, and Mac all doing the same with their luggage. Mac was the first to catch her eye and waved, gesturing for her to come over with his hand.

"Yo, Kaori! Come here!" Mac smiled near the counter just after giving his luggage to one of the bellhops. Kaori widely smiled, rolling her luggage along with her over to Mac with a rapid heart beat of seeing Brodi.

"Makku!" Kaori laughed before politely smiling at the bellhop who took her luggage and giving a slight nod. She then noticed Mac wasn't wearing his swimming trunks, or had anything in his hand. "You are not swimming?" Kaori asked, pointing to his empty hands.

Mac shrugged. "Forgot my trunks! Didn't think we'd be swimming, to be honest ya know. We usually have to leave early morning whenever we're up here, so I didn't bother." Mac saw Kaori's smile slightly falter before adding, "but hey, I'm still coming! I'll just chill and stick my feet in the Jacuzzi or something." This made Kaori lighten up a little, noticing he at least had a pair of jeans that hit right below his knee. Kaori handed her hotel key to the lady at the desk.

"Great!" Kaori grinned, turning her attention to Brodi and hardly Marisol. Kaori noticed Marisol was not in her suit and also had nothing in her hands, showing she might not be swimming as well, which gave Kaori a slight leap of glee in her heart. She also noticed Brodi in a Hawaiian, muscle-clinging shirt and swimming trunks, smiling more as she felt her cheeks burn a little bit. "You coming, you guys?" Kaori said, purposely making sure to include Marisol to be polite.

Marisol nodded, much to Kaori's displeasure. "Yeah, I'll just be sittin' with Mac or something, I can't believe I forgot my suit! I always kept a spare with me in my case, but I denno what happen' to it…" Marisol shrugged, smiling still herself. Kaori glanced over at Brodi, even though judging by his appearance, she knew his answer.

Brodi grinned. "We were just on our way down there. You are too, I assume?" Brodi asked, motioning to Kaori in her suit and dress as Kaori tried to remember how to breathe.

"Hai!" Kaori pipped, glancing down at herself for a second then meeting Brodi's stare back up with only her eyes, the apples of her cheeks cutely widening more. "So we go?" Kaori offered, turning her shoulder towards the elevator to go downstairs. Brodi and the others agreed, walking over to the elevator and going downstairs.

Kaori pushed the door open leading to the pool with her group behind her, chatting to themselves about mostly the tournament and Snowdream coming up. Kaori hated how her mind blanked out when she tried to talk to Brodi. She felt like she was herself around him, but ten times shyer, making it harder to communicate, which was already a challenge in itself for her. She knew once everyone was having a good time and talking about whatever popped into their heads, she would loosen up. She always did, eventually.

Surprisingly, Marisol and Mac were the ones that began to talk, mostly about their time at Garibaldi, and how Marisol would be on her way home after everyone left for Snowdream.

"Since I lost," Marisol started out, making sure not to sound bitter about how Kaori was the girl to beat her, "I'll be leaving on my own after you guys. Plane leaves around two."

Kaori noticed Marisol had a bit of a drear in her voice, but Kaori expected it. As she began opening the doors that led to the pool, she knows she would have been the same, and if not, worse. She probably wouldn't even be down here at the pool if she were Marisol, being the first one out of the tournament. Being last in a regular race was a downer, much less, a national tournament like this one. She began to feel even guilty, and mad all over again at Psymon for shoving her into the finish line. She even felt like she didn't deserve to even be here, the more she thought about it…

"Alriiiight, we're here!" Marisol cheered, slipping off her shoes near some chairs as everyone did the same, Kaori taking off her dress and Brodi slipping his shirt off over his head.

Kaori officially felt her guilt starting to swiftly ruin her mood. She should be the one going home. It was her fault she unclasped her board and broke her wrist, even if she didn't do it on purpose. It was still her fault, why she got behind. Marisol should be staying, competing…

"Kaori? You okay, hon?" Brodi asked, placing a hand on her shoulder which felt like a shake back into the real world into reality, and not in her head. Kaori falsely smiled and nodded, giving him a thumbs up but not saying anything. Her stomach felt like it was just not in one, but several, clumped up knots. Brodi patted her shoulder gently and nodded back, raising his hand up to her head and ruffling her hair slightly. Kaori felt her stomach lurch more, but she kept a smiling face until he left. She watched him walk away as she brought her hands up to her bare stomach, clutching it slightly. Nerves of all kind were bothering her, everything from doing to the butterflies to a case of major guilt.

She walked over to the Jacuzzi where Marisol and Mac had stuck their feet in already, chatting amongst themselves and laughing in between. Brodi was preparing to do some dives into the pool on the diving board. She watched him as she stuck her feet in the warm, bubbling water, admiring his perfection in his smooth movement. Kaori subconsciously noticed Mac and Marisol stopped talking and had now begun to watch Brodi as well, waiting for his dive. His face was concentrated and stern as he walked across the board. Getting a feel for it, he jumped slightly up and down a few times, closed his eyes, and on the third small jumped, he leaped into the air and flipped once in midair, landing perfectly straight into the water with his hands and head first, creating a small, perfect splash. Kaori and Marisol cheered, the two and Mac applauding as he rose to the surface with a grin.

"So goooood!" Kaori laughed, making Brodi modestly shrug his shoulders and smile at her.

"Thank-you," he said, beginning to swim to the edge of the pool and beginning to pull himself out when suddenly, the door busted open, with several people in the doorway.

Kaori gasped at the loud noise and looked over to see JP, Luther, and Psymon all trudging in. All of them had their swimming trunks on, and to her distaste, even Luther. Looking past them, she could see Moby and Zoe following behind, along with Elise, Eddie, and even Seeiah coming along down the staircase, all in some form of swimwear. Kaori waved at mostly Elise and Eddie from the Jacuzzi, calling them over.

"You came!" Kaori shouted. "Come sit with us, over here!" She scooted closer to where Marisol and Mac were dangling their feet as Brodi came over, slowly stepping into the Jacuzzi and sitting next to Kaori. She looked up at him and smiled. "You did so good, Boo-dodi!" Kaori laughed, giving him a thumbs up as the other two next to her chimed in with agreement with her. Kaori loved that Brodi was being a little bit of a showoff and trying to impress the group, because she was part of it. In a way, he was trying to impress her. The single thought made Kaori's heart aflutter.

"Hey, guys!" Psymon waved, putting up a ridiculously cheerfully fake smile and bouncily jogged over to the Jacuzzi. "Great to see my favorite snowboard buddies all together! I missed every single one of you!" Psymon psychotically laughed, Luther and JP standing behind him. Kaori noticed JP was staring at Marisol and her slightly revealing top, rolling her eyes. She felt bad for thinking it, but sometimes she thought he acted like a pig around Marisol and Elise, shamelessly flirting and texting them inappropriate things. Psymon swung himself into the Jacuzzi next to Brodi, splashing him and Kaori as he looped an arm around Brodi's shoulder and smirking. "So tell me, dearest Broderick," Psymon began as JP and Luther sat down in the water next to Psymon, "Think I'll kick your ass in Snowdream? I'll still get to trip you dude, I won't let that go." Psymon grinned, referring to how he took Kaori to her room for Brodi since he had an interview and she had an injured ankle. His eyes shifted to Kaori, leaning over Brodi to get in closer of range of her before Brodi could reply back. "How's your ankle, midget? You gonna need Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome to carry you to the airport?" Psymon stuck his tongue out as Kaori blushed, smacking Psymon's shoulder.

"Psymohn!" Kaori squeaked, pouting her lips. She hated when he did that, putting her feelings on the spot for Brodi. It was embarrassing. She hoped Brodi just thought he was purely messing around and being a jerk because they were friends. Just as Kaori was about to say more, Marisol interfered.

"You know I think you're cool and all Kaori, really!" Marisol started, making Kaori's attention turn to her. "But Psymon!" Marisol said, putting her hands on her hips as she faced him. "That was not cool what you did, dude! I'm happy for Kaori and all," Marisol said, turning to Kaori again, and she nodded to indicate she understood. And she did. If she were Marisol, she would be furious. "You _threw_her over the finish line. It shouldn't have counted!" Marisol said, flipping her hair over the back of her shoulders. Kaori bit her lip then looked over to see Elise and all the others walking over, a wave of slight relief washing over her. Maybe the others coming would distract them from this topic.

"The stupid girl was in my freaking way!" Psymon defended himself. "Didn't wanna be in JP's situation." Psymon motioned towards him, reminding that he was the one that lost and going home. Kaori was starting to feel more awkward and awkward by the second. She waved at Elise, sitting next to Mac and Marisol except in the Jacuzzi, and Eddie sitting down by her side. Elise had a plain, sexy red one-piece bathing suit, and Eddie had some Hawaiian, 70's mix print on his trunks. Moby, with red and black tribal patterned trunks, and Zoe, with a silver and black bikini with skulls on it, sat down next to them too. Seeiah had squeezed her way between Mac and Marisol with a shiny gold bikini, ready to defend Mariol's side of the argument.

"She right, ya know!" Seeiah cut in, pointing at Psymon. "Kaori, girl, ya know I like you! You cool! But Psymon, what you did wasn't fair to Marisol on the slopes!" Seeiah said, crossing her arms. Kaori felt glad they made a point to show that they meant to offense to Kaori and it wasn't her fault. It helped. But she still felt bad about the whole situation. Just as when Kaori went to say something again, Brodi walked through the Jacuzzi over to Marisol, whispering something into her ear for a few moments. She sighed, but then smiled afterwards. "Yeah, you right," Kaori heard Marisol say as Brodi smiled in return. Kaori wasn't sure what Brodi said, but Kaori saw Marisol whispering to Seeiah, probably repeating what Brodi had said to her. She still wasn't sure what he said, but she was glad; they both seemed like they were going to drop it. But Kaori's chest tightened as she realized Brodi had shifted his way in between Seeiah and Marisol, talking amongst the two about the race from what she heard, and stayed there instead of coming back to his original spot next to her. Brodi's shifting in between them caused everyone on the right of the circle to scoot down slightly, making Psymon eventually be shoulder to shoulder with her. Kaori pretended not to notice as she thought about possibly swimming up next to Elise or Eddie for escape.

"Well, well, well," Psymon looked down at Kaori. "My favorite Japanese pipsqueak. And how are we doing today?" Psymon asked, Kaori's chest nervously tightening as she refused to look him in the eye. She shrugged, trying to show him that she was casual, but didn't want to start a full-on conversation. But looking around, she noticed the group was engaged in conversation in pairs or three or so people, talking to their friends. Kaori noticed no one was really paying attention to her and Psymon except Eddie, who gave an encouraging smile. Sighing and looking back up at Psymon, she faked a smile. "I am good. How is Psymohn?" Kaori turned towards him, really not feeling up to going through a battle of sarcastic remarks, but also not wanting to be rude and cause a scene. "And what is peepu-skeek?" Kaori curiously asked, still running the word through her head. She knew if she asked it, he might retort with some sort of comment about how stupid she was. She hated being called stupid. Being raised in an academically successful family, she was proud of how smart she was. She took pride in it. Just because her English was broken, didn't mean she was dumb. Psymon can't even speak broken Japanese.

"Yeah, same," Psymon simply stated, beginning to tug at her hair that was tied up in a messy bun, but she swatted him away as if she was used to this, because she was used to him doing things like that in the slight, real conversations they had. Kaori waited for him to go on as she tried to tuck the hairs he pulled out back in place. "It's like, uh… Like… midget. Yeah…" Psymon said, pulling the section of hair she just tucked back in her hair tie out again. His face was casual, making Kaori smile a little. Seeing him mess with her and be chill about it was just so funny to Kaori. It's just how their relationship was. She liked this side more of it, rather than the side with the name-calling, teasing, mocking, and whatever else that spat at each other on and off the slopes. Kaori looked up at him and grinned.

"I will make you a deal, Psymohn!"

Psymon raised his pierced brow at her, taking his hands away from her hair. "Oh, yeah? What's that, Miss Godzirra?"

Kaori rolled her eyes at the comment, but she kept talking. "You may mess up my hair," she pointed at it so clarify, "and I will not stop you. And you can call me names on the plane down to Snowdream when we fly," she continued, his head bobbing side to side, seeming to like the way that sounded, "and I will not call you names back. But you must tell me something in return of?" Kaori ended with a high note, biting her lip again. She wanted to know why Psymon was acting different for the past few days. Maybe not nice… But he had to notice he wasn't being his usual Psymon self.

Psymon narrowed his eyes and crossed his tattooed arms. Kaori noticed they must be really strong, judging by his muscles, and how you can tell how big they were with his contrasting chain tattoos all over his body. "Sounds pretty awesome so far. Alright, what do I gotta tell you?" Psymon laid back against the wall of the Jacuzzi, stretching his arms out so that one was slightly behind Kaori and one slightly behind Luther, who didn't notice since he was talking to JP who was talking to Elise who was talking to Eddie. Kaori smiled at glancing a notice at this, but kept her focus on Psymon.

"Well…" Kaori looked down, nervously laughing to herself. At least if he would be the first one to make a scene or tease her about asking, he would look like the bad guy. Kaori had a hunch Eddie or Brodi or someone must have noticed too, so she'd have backup if she needed. She hoped. She kept her eyes down towards the water, staring at her own knees as she asked, "Why have you been… acting different lately?" Kaori wanted to add 'around me?' but thought it was better to keep the question broad, since she might get more of an answer out of him. After a few moments of him not saying anything, but Kaori could still tell he was looking at her, she went on. "You have been… almost…" Kaori kept her head down, but her eyes met up with his. Her heart betrayed her and started to hammer, but was comforted by the fact she got this far without her going into a nervous, scared fit. "… Nice?" Kaori furrowed her brows nervously upwards, cringing her face a little as if accusing Psymon of being nice could make him explode. Psymon's face was patient with her nervous rambling to get the question out, but soon enough, he went back to messing with Kaori's hair and pulling the strands all out of place, making it look messy. Kaori instinctively went up to stop him, but made sure to keep her hands down, as she was hoping they would both hold up their ends of her deal. Eddie looked at her quizzically, which made Elise turn too, and they both just nervously laughed. Kaori caught both of their eyes and mouthed "it's okay," giving a slight thumbs up to let him know he was picking on her, but she didn't mind. Eddie nodded, and the two went back into conversation. Psymon had pulled out at least half of her head out of her hair-tie, and Kaori started to be aware that she must look ridiculous.

"Well…" Psymon tried to find the right words, debating on what to say as he was almost done pulling out all of her hair out of place. "It's because…" Psymon looked at her, pulling the last of her hairs out and slipping her hair-tie over and onto his wrist. As he took a deep breath in as if he were about to go on, Psymon suddenly scooped Kaori into his arms and stood up in the Jacuzzi. Kaori screamed and could tell everyone had stopped talking and they were staring at him, but Psymon obviously he didn't care. He laughed and stepped out of the Jacuzzi with a kicking and protesting Kaori in his arms, and began walking up to the pool. Kaori flailed in a panic and started to shout.

"Psymohn! PSYMOHN! NO! IT WILL BE COLD! PLEASE PSYMOHN, DO NOT THROW ME IN!" Kaori was at least going to make this as difficult as possible for him, kicking her legs everywhere and reaching past his neck towards the others with a stretch of her hand. "HELP ME! HELP ME! MAKKU? ELISE!" But this made Psymon only quicken his pace towards the pool. Kaori could hear one or two people getting out of the Jacuzzi, hopefully to her rescue and not JP and/or Luther to help aide Psymon. He was steps away from the pool, and then one step, and then the very edge. He laughed more and held her out in front of him, right above the deep water. If he dropped her, she would plummet into what felt like ice cold water. She saw the people getting out of the Jacuzzi had been Elise and Eddie, who were laughing. This made Kaori smile out of the corner of her mouth, because it all must have been very amusing, but she still did not want to be dropped in that cold water. "Eliiiise! Eddie!" Kaori desperately reached and clung to Psymon's neck at the same time, thinking if he threw her in, he was at least going down with her.

"Aye, Psymon! C'mon man, that water's gonna be like ice after sittin' in there!" Eddie laughed, standing right next to Psymon. He tried to reach for Kaori, but Psymon simply held her out further away from them both, making Kaori hold into Psymon's biceps for what felt like her life.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Psymon smirked, jiggling Kaori. You try to reach for her, and I will drop her. Kur-SPLAT!" he said in her face, making Kaori whine more.

"Eliiiiseeee!" Kaori moaned, attempting again to reach for her. "Make him put me down!" Kaori pleaded, smiling a little as she spoke, making a pouting face at her. Elise was laughing as well, looking at Psymon.

"Oh, Psymon, come on! You'll make her freeze! Just put her down!" Elise reasonably tried to help Kaori out. Kaori looked at Psymon to see his reaction who rolled his eyes, showing he gave up.

"Oh, alright. You guys are no fun," Psymon sadly said and tried to make a pouting face like Kaori. After, he pulled Kaori back closer to him and breathed in her ear, the warmness compared to the cold air she was now in giving her goose bumps. "Sorry you never got your answer, midget…" Psymon whispered even quieter, his lips fully pressing against her ear. "But you know, you look kinda cute with all your hair down…" Psymon chuckled and pulled away slightly to see Kaori's face reddening with confusion and flattery, unsure of what to say. He held her out again, and Kaori's eyes widened.

"NO! PSYMOHN! IIE! IIE! PREASE! ONEGAI! PSYMOHN!" Kaori's kicks went back into hypermode, but Psymon had no problem controlling her.

"Don't worry Elise, I'll put her down right NOW!" Psymon began laughing once again as he dropped Kaori into the pool that created a satisfying splash.

Holy crap! Bet you guys didn't think you'd see the day I updated this! If I did this a few weeks later, it would have been almost a year! Crazy! Not sure why I got back into it, I haven't even played SSX Tricky since then. Just kinda saw it, worked on it for a few days, and here I am! I hope you same reviewers get to see this; I know you really wanted me to update, and I'm sorry it took so long! I hope I can keep going. Keep me strong & review! Thank-you guys for everything!


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